Demystifying the ABU (and interpreting the alphabet soup of acronyms associated with it).

The American Board of Urology (ABU) has a very distinct mission that is often misunderstood by urologists in the community. In addition, there is an enormous number of acronyms associated with the ABU. In this paper, I will attempt to explain the workings of the ABU and to define and explain the acronyms. The mission of the ABU is to act for the benefit of the public to insure a high quality, safe, efficient, and ethical practice of urology by establishing and maintaining standards of certification for urologists. The ABU views that it truly serves the public, and decisions made by the ABU are measured against the publications best interests.