Training and education are an integral part of our service. Our mission statement includes our pledge to provide “a high quality, evidence based, continuously improving, person centred service. This will utilise a comprehensive inter disciplinary approach to achieve best patient outcomes, informed by evidence based clinical care.”
As a university affiliated group, UCD-GOG is passionate about research and training. All of our surgeons are actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and examinations. We welcome applications for undergraduate electives, please email an expression of interest to stephanie.begley@ucd.ie
We embrace and support the need to train and inspire our future doctors who will in turn continue our mission to provide the best service possible to patients all over Ireland. Patient safety runs through all of our standards. Patient safety is inseparable from a good learning environment and culture that values and supports learners and educators.
The members of our consultant group all take part in education and training and hold positions that contribute to national and international education including: RCOG Council Representative for Ireland, Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology Executive, MRCPI Examinations Group, Examiners for MRCPI, Examiners for MRCOG Part 3 and Faculty for both RCPI and RCSI surgical skills courses.
Our training and education is continually advancing. We aim to provide the highest quality of education and support to students, O&G trainees, specialist trainees in Gynaecological Oncology, to all our colleagues within our multi-disciplinary team, our primary care colleagues and to our patients and families.
All hospital sites within our group support University College Dublin (UCD) in undergraduate education and provide placements for students during their Obstetrics and Gynaecology rotations.
All of our consultants are involved in bedside teaching, theatre instruction and take part regularly in the UCD undergraduate examinations.
Students are welcomed to apply for electives within our departments if they wish to further their knowledge in Gynaecological Oncology.
The Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, as part of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), is the designated regulatory body for Obstetrics and Gynaecology training in Ireland. Accredited by the Medical Council of Ireland the Institute is proud to meet the strict standards required to deliver postgraduate specialist training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Training for Obstetrics and Gynaecology is structured as three years of Basic Speciality Training (BST) followed by five years of Higher Specialist Training (HST). All of our group sites participate in both BST and HST training with particular focus in gynaecological surgical training. Our consultants are RCPI accredited trainers.
The MMUH and SVUH Gynaecological Oncology teams focus on training specifically for the investigation, diagnosis and treatment of all types of gynaecological malignancy. Emphasis is placed on surgical training and peri-operative care.
General O&G trainees gain exposure to the latest treatments for gynaecological malignancy including hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for ovarian cancer. They attend the weekly Gynae Oncology MDT meetings alongside the monthly Peritoneal Malignancy MDT meetings. Attendance to the monthly Placenta Accreta Syndrome MDT is also encouraged.
Our Departments have the surgical expertise and specialist equipment to provide training in all areas of surgical gynaecology but specifically:
Access to laparoscopic training simulators and the use of the Da Vinci Robotic simulator is encouraged and resources are available.
Research and clinical audit are encouraged during placements. The trainees also attend and contribute to the monthly departmental Journal Clubs and the surgical directorate Morbidity and Mortality meetings.
We currently have one accredited RCPI Post CCST training fellowship post in pelvic surgery based at the MMUH site. This one-year fellowship is an opportunity for trainees who have completed their specialist training program to focus on the development of surgical skills to enhance their ability to provide advanced benign gynaecological surgery as a consultant.
As with our higher specialist training focus we aim to provide training in both open and minimal access techniques for all required procedures set out by the RCPI/Institute of O&G fellowship program.
Our Consultants are faculty members of many national and international courses for postgraduate trainees, including:
Communication and education opportunities with our colleagues both in general O&G and in primary care are also hugely important. Members of our team often lead on webinars and lectures on issues such as menopause and gynaecological cancer treatments.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the amount of time we could interact with our patients and their families. Telemedicine has become commonplace and offers significant benefits to patients. We have embraced new virtual platforms in order to improve the amount and standard of information we can provide to patients and their families whilst still promoting close interaction with our team.
This website along without individual hospital websites now all provide information platforms on our services and information on each cancer type we treat. Not all this information will apply to every patient and our team will direct patients on the information most relevant to them.
We also recommend and support several other organisation websites and patient support groups including: