Training of Brazilian Urology residents in laparoscopy: results of a national survey

ABSTRACT Objectives To evaluate the familiarity of Brazilian urology residents with laparoscopy, methods of training and perspectives. Material and methods a questionnaire with 23 questions was sent by e-mail to all urological residents of 86 Urology Residence Programs certified by the Brazilian Society of Urology (BSU). Results 225 valid answers (85% of all residents) responded. Most residences belong to academic hospitals mainly in the Southeast region of Brazil. Women account for 5% of residents and 82% of programs perform less than 100 procedures per year. Residents have access to LESS, RAL and 98% to surgical laparoscopy and 87% of these participate actively at the surgery, but 84.9% do not have access to RAL. The most common laparoscopic procedure is radical nephrectomy (73.2%), but only 28.8% of residents acted as surgeons, and third year residents (R3) are those that mainly performed this procedure (statistical significance, p