24 European Urology Today August/September 2009 The exam in Athens was led by Professor G. Alivizatos, chairman of the EBU Examination Committee. He personally presented the FEBU Diplomas. The pictures on these pages give an impression of the atmosphere in Athens. Austria Bernhard Aigner Andrea Gnad Manuela Gruber Jürgen Haas Christian Hasenzagel Stephan Hruby Erik Randall Huber Nicolai Jost Leonhartsberger Martin Marszalek Nike Morakis Werner Schober Roman Szlauer Andrea Ulreich-Winterholer Bahrain Nader Mohamed Awad Ahmed Awad Mohamed Abdulla Mohamed Ebrahim Belgium Geert De Naeyer Canada Peter Boström Czech Republic Matúš Chocholatý Denmark Ghayyath Hamed Jawid Atimash Salahadin Hassan Lamy Egypt Mahmoud Abdel Hakim Mohammed Abdou Abdel-Rassoul Ahmad Abulfotooh Eid Hany Mohamed Hamed Aly El Fayoumy Omar Farid Elgebaly Mohamed Emam Ahmed Ghazi Rami Labib Kamel Wael Saber Afifi Kandeel Ahmed Mohamed Shaban Mahrous Ahmed Hussein Meabed Osama Motawae Ahmed Ismail Shoukry Ahmed Yousef France Ayman Awad Elias El Khoury Bernard Faraj Marwan Sandid Najdat Yaghi 2009 FEBU Oral Examination - passing rate at 94% Well organised exams in three European cities The 17th edition of the FEBU oral examination took place on Saturday 6 June 2009 in Athens, Budapest and Warsaw. Of the 262 examinees that participated, 247 were successful and received the FEBU Diploma. The average score of the total group was 7.7. This examination is part of the national exit exam for urologists in Hungary and Poland and is officially organised under the auspices of the the national urological societies in collaboration with the EBU Examination Committee. The following urologists were granted the FEBU title after passing the oral examinations in June 2009. $ Prof. Scarpa, one of the Italian examiners, with some successful Italian candidates $ Prof. Alivizatos congratulates Dr. F. Al-Mashhadani from Iraq Congratulations! Germany Faris Al-Badran Saddam Hussien Humoud Aldemour Adel Farah Mufadi Alrabadi Daniel Baumunk Thomas Bschleipfer Thomas Buntenbroich Eike Eichelberg-Currlin Felix Engelhardt Tom Fischer Alexander Gabuev Cornelius Geil-Bierschenk Marcus Goppelt Christian Gratzke Gert Heine Stefan Hinz Patrick Honeck Florian Imkamp Alexander Karl Andreas Johannes Löser Simone Maas Bernd Meisenzahl Nasreldin Mohammed Ramadan Daniel Porres Knoblauch Sebastian Karl-Heinz Schäfers Michael Schulze Thomas Sokol Hossein Tezval Daniel Claudius Vergho Christoph Von Klot Carsten Wach Gunnar Wendt-Nordahl Greece Stefanos Adamis Vasileios Adamopoulos Georgios Dimitriadis Georgios Geravelis Konstantinos Ioannidis Apostolos Kafetsoulis Stavros Kazantzidis Georgios Koutalellis Evangelos Mazaris Vaios Papadimitriou Ioannis Papaioannou Prodromos Philippou Orestis Porfyris Charalampos Thamnopoulos Hungary Zsolt Domján Gyula Drabik Péter Járomi Tamás Józsa Béla Kovács Tamás Kozma-Bognár Bassel Mansour Ildikó Meszlényi Seeyed Javad Mousavi Nafchi István Sülecz András Szathmári Kinga Szücs Péter Tóth Tamás Zóber It’s a pleasant Sunday morning in Athens and the temperature is approaching 30˚C. I’m sipping a Mythos beer in the shade of an umbrella whilst taking in the view of the Acropolis, satisfied with the new award - Fellow of the European board of urology (FEBU). Not bad considering less than 48 hours ago I was leaving the rainy shores of England. So what madness drove me to sit yet more exams? I had always been impressed with the EAU’s approach to trainees and as a junior member I had enrolled on the European Residents Education Programme (EUREP) in Prague. This is essentially a revision course with the option for final year trainees to sit the EBU MCQ paper at the end of the week. Those who pass the exam can proceed to sit the EBU oral exam held at a later date. On the course I met several UK trainees who were using the week to prepare for the UK FRCS urology exam. This seemed a sensible strategy to sit both the European and English exams in quick succession whilst being at your most knowledgeable. I eventually sat the EBU written exam in London in November 2008 along with 17 other hopeful candidates. In total, 227 trainees across Europe took the exam at several venues. The paper consisted of 150 MCQ’s, which had to be completed within 2 ½ hours. The paper was very fair with the questions being mainly clinically orientated and applicable to UK practice. “So book your exam, make a long weekend break and embrace the opportunities of a European market!” Two weeks later I was notified that I had passed the exam and was provided with a breakdown of marks for each urology sub-speciality. This latter feature was helpful in directing subsequent revision for the FRCS urology written paper that was conveniently held six weeks later, which I also passed. So far so good... Next up were the oral examinations with the FRCS in May and the EBU equivalent in June. The FRCS viva involved answering questions on 16 different scenarios testing all of the urology sub-specialities. Although re-energised by the relief of passing the FRCS vivas, I did question the logic of rushing off two weeks later to sit another viva abroad. However, on landing in Athens on a Friday night with the warm breeze that greets you on arrival, the ordeal becomes more like an adventure. The vivas were held on the Saturday in a hotel not far from the city centre. Unlike the endless vivas for the FRCS, the EBU oral consists of three structured scenarios lasting just under an hour. My first viva covered paediatrics, the next penile cancer, with the final clinical based problem beginning with a BPH scenario which took a cheeky change in direction, turning into the management of bladder cancer. The examiners were very friendly and encouraging throughout but expected knowledge to be backed up with reference to the 2009 EAU guidelines. Once the vivas are finished, the award ceremony was held later on that evening. The names of those who have passed are called out and the FEBU diploma is awarded to the applause of the other trainees. Very few people fail outright, with borderline candidates getting another opportunity to sit a pass fail viva that evening. My overall impression of the EBU exam is a very positive one. It’s reasonably priced, well organised with sensible, and clinically based questions giving trainees from all over Europe the chance to test their clinical abilities. To date, 188 urologists in the UK have passed the diploma – the total stands at 2617. Although FEBU is not currently recognised as a formal qualification, the number of UK trainees sitting the exam is likely to continue to rise. So book your exam, make a long weekend break and embrace the opportunities of a European market. Who knows, that job in Tuscany is just round the corner! The future is bright - the future is European! EBU Exam: a UK trainee’s experience Mr. David Payne Leicester General Hospital Urology dept Leicester (UK) [email protected] European Board of Urology (EBU) India Ramesh Kamalakannan Cherukareth Saifuddin Saheed Sudhir Sukumar Iran Hamidreza Abdi Mohammad Izadpanahi Meysam Jamshidi Parham Masoudi Iraq Ausama Saadi Abdulmuhsin Ismaeel Hama Ameen Aghaways Hayder Al-Ardi Yousuf Al-Hallaq Ula Al-Kawaz Firas Al-Mashhadani Ammar Aziz Mohammed Ali Hasan Sarwar Noori Mahmood Ehab Mohammad Othman Mohammad Asim Suhail Italy Francesco Beniamin Lucas Berner Marco Cosentino Mario Gardi Fabrizio Longo Michele Potenzoni Michele Salvetti Nazareno Roberto Suardi Andrea Volpe