1. Report of the Surgical Oncology Division
I. Edhemovic
Meeting of the UEMS Section and European Board of Surgery Madrid, May 2018

2. The Written and Oral 2018 EBSQ examination in Surgical Oncology will take place separatelly
Written exam: June 22, 2018
Oral exam: Budapest, October 13, 2018

3. By courtesy of the Division of Breast Surgrey, both divisions are sharing the same written exam sites
The Division of Breast Surgery invited SO division to jointly organize the written exam in 2018 to save the money and time, both for candidates and examiners
Division of Surgical Oncology accepted invitation
All remote exam centers were set up by Division of Breast Surgery
Next year, Division of Surgical Oncology will also set up remote exam centers and invite Breast Surgery Division to join us.

4. 2018 Surgical Oncology Exam: 25 applicants + 3 retakers (oral only)
Austria 1
Egypt
Germany 3
Greece
India 6
Libya
Nigeria
Pakistan 2
Saudi Arabia
Spain
Switzerland
UAE UK
Yemen
In 2017: 21 applicants + 3 retakers
19%

5. Written paper: question Review (part 1 of 3)
60 questions focused on general oncology knowledge, clinical cases and testing application of knowledge and critical thinking.
Pass mark set by Anghoff referencing
None excluded from analysis

6. Academic viva (part 2 of 3)
Papers allocated based on their declared 2 subject preferences
1 hour to read both papers and then a 30 minute academic viva
Focus on critical thinking, trial design and methodology plus evidence based practice

7. Clinical viva (part 3 of 3)
Evaluates clinical management skills, decision making and clinical knowledge of current best European practice
10 pre prepared cases covering all major cancer sites
Each candidate discusses 2 case scenarios themed around their specialist subject (HPB, Upper GI, Colorectal, Breast...)

8. Textbook of Surgical Onology
CESMA approved
Textbook of Surgical Onology
Webinar at ESSO web page
This webinar is for future candidates to the European Board of Surgery Qualification Exam and will clarify the main items of the exam in order to allow potential candidates to be ready and well trained for the examination. 

9. 2017 Outcome: 3/23 candidates failed. Pass rate 87%
3 poor score on oral
2/3 poor score on academic
1/3 poor score on clinical
3 prize winners: all given free registration at the next ESSO congress in Budapest, 2018 where they will be awarded a gold or silver medal at the General Assembly.
1st prize: Jain Deepak Kumar (India)
2nd prize: Sasi Walid (UK)
3rd prize: Badri Rafal (Jordan)

12. Using online Excel tables

13. Suggestions for changes in the on-line application system
Currently, system does not allow setting-up the split exam at different time and different locations
To consider the website application (e-portfolio) upgrading to enable the additional functionality.
An option (check box or similar) for splitting the exam should be offered
Divisions which want to implement splitting of the exam confirm split exam option and enter additional locations and dates
If option for splitting the exam is not selected, everything remains the same

14. Future plans
Germany:
The German Association of Surgical Oncology (ACO) has been founded in September during the national congress for visceral medicine in Dresden
ACO initiated a curriculum for surgical oncology based on the global curriculum elaborated by ESSO and SSO
Starting with September 2018, 10 surgeons will be trained within one year specific in the field of surgical oncology.
The final exam will be UEMS/EBSQ exam in German language. Succesfull candidates will recieve both UEMS and ACO diploma
Also non-ACO members will be offerd to approach the exam in German language, however, they will recieve only UEMS diploma

15. Future plans
Italy:
Also Italian Society of Surgical Oncology (SICO) is willing to organioze the written exam in Italian language next year (2019)
UEMS Division of Surgical Oncology fully supports SICO‘s plans for having the exam in Italian language
SICO will take care about translating
Oral exam will be in English language

16. Future plans
India:
Thanks to Division of Breast Surgery, we are already sharing one exam center this year in India in Calcutta
During the SSO meeting in Chicago in March 2018, representatives of Indian Society of Surgical Oncology, ESSO and UEMS Division of Surgical Oncology met.
Indian Society of Surgical Oncology asked for more exam centers in India due to huge distances. Hopefully, this will be ready for next year

17. Future plans
Egypt:
Thanks to Division of Breast Surgery, we are already sharing one exam center this year in Egypt in Kairo
However, the president of Egyptian Society of Surgical Society expressed their wish that they would like to have remote SO exam center organized by them in Egyptian NCI. Next year this will be operationalised

18. Future plans Pakistan:
ESSO and Division of Breast Surgery were contacted by the representative of Pakistani Society of Surgical Oncology.
They explained to us visa and other problems and asked for remote exam center in Lahore.
This year we will run sham exam in Lahore in order to test technical facilites.

19. Future plans Additional remote exam centers:
Members of Division of Surgical Oncology will be invited to set up remote centers in their instituions in order to increase the total number of exam centers.

20. Thank you for your attention