This week, RCSI is hosting an innovative surgical skills course for surgeons from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the US, who have come to Ireland to avail of the new state-of-the-art training facilities at the National Surgical and Clinical Skills Centre at 26 York Street.

This collaborative course is a partnership between Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) hospital in New York, USA and the Department of Surgical Affairs, RCSI. Participants in the course include both urology fellows from MSKCC and Specialist Registrar trainees on the urology programme in Ireland. This is the first course of its kind in Ireland and the first collaboration between these two centres, MSKCC and RCSI, to deliver training in advanced surgical skills in this specialty.

The Urology Bootcamp takes place in the new National Surgical and Clinical Skills Centre and will be delivered using novel techniques in hands-on technical skills training. The training will focus on open operative skills for Urologists and involve the use of advanced simulation equipment in RCSI’s purpose-built wet lab environment and mock operating theatre.

Professor Oscar Traynor, Director of National Surgical Training Centre, RCSI commented: “Traditionally Irish surgeons went overseas to avail of advanced surgical training available in the USA and other countries. RCSI’s new National Surgical and Clinical Skills Centre at 26 York Street has changed that paradigm and we are now hosting world-leading training in the sate-of-the-art training facilities that we have here at the College in Dublin.

“We are delighted to host surgical trainers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center alongside our Urology specialists based in Ireland, offering our participants a teacher to learner ratio of one to two. The clinical simulation suite here at RCSI is Europe’s most advanced, and coupled with the expertise of the faculty contributing to this course, I am confident that the world-class training delivered at the Bootcamp will ensure expert training for our Surgical Trainees and the best possible outcomes for their patients,” Professor Traynor added.

Learning objectives of the course include competency in basic, intermediate and complex open urological procedures and competency in managing acute urological clinical events, including critically analysing behaviours during these events.

This course would not have been possible without the generous support of industry colleagues Medtronic.  

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2018) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI is a signatory of the Athena SWAN Charter.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the world’s oldest and largest private cancer centre, has devoted more than 130 years to exceptional patient care, innovative research, and outstanding educational programs. Today, it is one of 47 National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive Cancer Centres in the USA, with state-of-the-art science flourishing side by side with clinical studies and treatment.