Training & Education

We aim to facilitate mobility of expertise, virtually or physically; to develop, share and spread information, knowledge, and best practice; and to foster developments that improve care within and outside the network. A priority is transferring knowledge and training to those Member States with less expertise, thereby increasing the quality of outcomes across the EU/EEA. We also aim to share this knowledge globally. We are able to do this by pooling and disseminating highly specialised knowledge.

We also aim to record highly specialised surgeries using a dedicated camera in the operating room at the ERN eUROGEN HCP Network Coordinator centre (Radboudumc) and produce some short educational videos on different Expertise Areas in collaboration with our ePAG. We have run and will continue to run courses (e.g., the paediatric colorectal courses that are supported by ERN ERNICA and our Supporting Partners, ARM-Net and EUPSA).

Our virtual multi-disciplinary team (MDT) video-consultation discussions and reporting offer a whole new perspective for training experts via virtual participation.  In addition, the outputs from our scientific publications, patient registry, guidelines, and collaboration activities, including research, are (and will be) used for training and education.

An agreement was signed on 19 January 2021 between Prof. Wout Feitz, ERN eUROGEN HCP Network Coordinator Representative, Radboudumc and Elsevier to produce a book on rare and complex urology. An amendment to the agreement was signed on 27 June 2023 to add Jen Tidman, ERN eUROGEN Business Support Manager, as a co-editor.

The book is currently in production and will be published on 1 February 2024.

Chapters:  The book contains two introductory chapters by Prof Wout Feitz, ERN eUROGEN HCP Network Coordinator Representative, and Prof Christopher Chapple, the founding ERN eUROGEN HCP Network Coordinator Representative and Secretary General of our Supporting Partner, the European Association of Urology. There is a series of overview chapters relating to ERN eUROGEN activities. Following these, there are Expertise Area (EA) chapters for each EA we cover within our three Workstreams.

Protocol: The ERN eUROGEN Coordination Team developed a protocol for the clinical chapters to ensure their quality and that they are a consensus view:

• Authors: Our Expertise Area Coordinators (EACs) were the lead authors for the majority of clinical chapters. They wrote and reviewed their draft chapters with other EA experts from a minimum of two differentERN eUROGEN HCPs; where there was a vice-EAC, they were one of the experts.
• Peer-review: Where the EA had an ePAG Advocate, they peer-reviewed the chapter. Where fewer than three HCPs were involved in a chapter, the WS Lead or external EA experts peer-reviewed the chapter.
• Proofreading/copyediting: This was done by Jen Tidman, ERN eUROGEN Business Support Manager, as she has a background in journalism/publishing and is a native English speaker. Tracked changes were sent back to authors for agreement before submission to Elsevier via EMSS.

Table of Contents: Below is a list of the chapter titles with the names of the lead authors.  The chapters also have co-authors who are not listed here:

Acknowledgements

Introductory Chapters

1. Introduction: ERN eUROGEN and Knowledge Exchange – Wout Feitz
2. The European Association of Urology and ERN eUROGEN – Christopher Reginald Chapple

Overview Chapters

3. ERN eUROGEN: Impact and Innovations for Rare & Complex Urology – Wout Feitz
4. The Patient View on the ERN Programme: Share, Care, Cure and Pathways – Dalia Aminoff
5. Cross-ERN Actions and Collaborations by ERN eUROGEN – Michelle Battye
6. Development of the ERN eUROGEN Patient Registry – Loes van der Zanden
7. Development of ERN eUROGEN and EAU Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) and Clinical Decision Support Tools (CDSTs) – Jen Tidman

Clinical Chapters

WS1

8. EA 1.1: Complex Genital Reconstructions; Differences in Sex Development – Katja Wolfenbuttel
9. EA 1.2: Bladder Exstrophy/Epispadias – Alaa El Ghoneimi
10. EA 1.3: Rare Urologic Stone and Kidney Disease – Matthieu Peycelon
11. EA 1.4: Non-Syndromic Urogenital Tract Malformation – Giovanni Mosiello
12. EA 1.5: Posterior Urethral Valves – Yazan F. Rawashdeh
13. EA 1.6: Proximal hypospadias – Magdalena Fossum
14. EA 1.7: Urorectal/Anorectal Malformation – Herjan van der Steeg

WS2

15. EA 2.1: Complicated and Complex Pelvic Floor Disorders – John PFA Heesakkers
16. EA 2.2: Rare Diseases and Conditions Affecting the Female Urethra – Jose Medina-Polo
17. EA 2.3 Urethral Reconstruction in Rare Diseases and Conditions – Gunter de Win
18. EA 2.4: Rare Retroperitoneal Diseases and Conditions – Mariangela Mancini
19. EA 2.5: Bladder pain syndrome/Interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC) – Mariangela Mancini
20. EA 2.6: Adult Urogenital Reconstructive Surgery – Laetitia de Kort
21. EA 2.7: Surgery for Transgender Patients – Silke Riechardt

WS3

22. EA 3.1: Penile Cancer – Oscar Brouwer
23. EA 3.2: Testicular Cancer – Yue Che
24. EA 3.3: Adrenal Tumours – Johan F. Langenhuijsen
25. EA 3.4: Abdomino-Pelvic Sarcoma – Mariangela Mancini
26. EA 3.5: Rare Renal Tumour Surgery – Matthieu Peycelon

If you have any questions, please email Jen Tidman, ERN eUROGEN Business Support Manager, who is leading the production of the book for the Coordination Team.

The EU Academy is an EU-owned online hub containing first-hand knowledge, high-quality educational resources and valuable insights directly produced by the EU institutions for individuals whose work is related to its sphere of action.

The first available course relevant to the ERNs is “Development of Clinical Practice Guidelines”. This training has been developed within the framework of the ERN Guideline Programme, and it pursues improving the capability of ERN healthcare professionals, CPG developers, and expert panel members to develop, appraise and implement ERN CPGs and CDSTs in an effective and efficient manner.

To use the EU Academy, you will need an EU login account. In case you do not have one yet:

• Go to the EU login landing page: EU Login.
• Click on Create Account.
• On the page that opens up, fill in the required information: First Name, Last Name, E-Mail and Verification Code.
• Click on Create an account.
• Once the account is created, the next step is to log in and link a mobile phone to the account to receive verification codes for two-factor authentication.
• Once this is done, the EU Academy is prepared to be used.

If you are interested in helping develop a training module relating to your Expertise Area, please contact Darren Shilhan, ERN eUROGEN Lead IT & Data Performance Analyst.

The major component of ERN eUROGEN’s Training & Education activities is the Webinar Programme. You can read more about that here, including information on upcoming webinars and past webinars.