An overview of British urological postgraduate teaching.

SUMMARY The author explains that Surgery, and Urology in particular, began as crafts. He shows how they were and, to some degree still are, disciplines taught by masters to their apprentices; but today's urologist can no longer be entirely a lone figure or simply a master craftsman. The British system is used by the author as a point of reference for discussing training experience, course teaching, examination and assessment, and research opportunities, which make up the postgraduate process. The author discusses the general requisites for specialization which constitute the common stem of medical postgraduate training in Great Britain. Details on the theoretical program and the training of Urologists, directed by a special supervisory body, are given. SUMARIO o Ensino Urologico Posgraduado na Grä-Bretanha o autor explica que a Cirurgia, e a Urologia em particular, cornecararn corno oficios artesanais. Mos do na GrA-Bretanha, e fornece detalhes sobre prograrna teôrico e treino dos urologistas, levados a cabo sob a direccao de urn corpo especial de supervisAo. Surgery, and urology in particular, began as a craft, a practical skill relying upon judgment of the eye and of the touch, upon intuitive decisions, upon manual dexterity and the deft manipulation of the tools of the trade. Such mysteries were always taught by masters to their apprentices, those aspirants to the craft, bound for many years in servitude and schooling, to learn by observing the higher while practising the humbler arts. This concept has still some relevance. A surgeon must still be a skilful craftsman and can scarcely learn his trade without a period of apprenticeship, but he must now be much more, and we must not allow ourselves to think of his training simply in terms of how many years he needs to spend in one capacity or another. We need to look at what we require of the finished product, a urologist, what his general background should be and how he will fit into the total medical scene in the future. Perhaps our views of the needs will be influenced by the particular form of health care provided in different countries, and my own bias will certainly be towards the requirements of a urological ~ Conferência proferida na mesa redonda sobre Ensino Pos-graduado da Urologia integrada nas Jornadas da AssociaçAo Portuguesa de Urologia de 1982 (25 de Junho de 1982). consultant in our National Health Service, who will inevitably spend the greater part …