What are the objectives of Visiting?
What are the benefits of Visiting?
What is the focus of the Visit?
What does the Visiting Report contain?
What happens to the Visiting Report?
Who are the Visitors?
The objectives of the Visiting programme are to improve, assure, and assess the quality of specialist training in teaching hospitals across Europe. This is achieved through the development of guidelines and the promotion of hospital visits for training recognition. It should be emphasised that EBCOG Visiting is a voluntary process.
Hospital Visiting aims to harmonise training standards across Europe and improve both the structure and processes of training. It helps identify strengths and areas for improvement within training programmes, supports certification of successful institutions, and contributes to greater uniformity in training assessment. The process also promotes service improvement and provides opportunities to share and learn from good practice.
Each Visit lasts one day and includes meetings with the Head of Department and senior staff to discuss the training programme and departmental infrastructure. Separate meetings are held with trainees, senior representatives from the Departments of Neonatology and Anaesthesiology, and a representative of the hospital’s Board of Directors or the Dean of the Medical Faculty, depending on local governance arrangements.
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The meeting with trainees is a key component of the Visit, as it provides insight into their experience of training.
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The Visit also includes a brief tour of wards and laboratories and concludes with a summary and preliminary recommendations from the Visitors.
The Visiting Report includes essential information on departmental infrastructure and training programmes, perspectives from senior staff, trainees, and hospital or faculty leadership, training facilities, and collaboration with Neonatology and Anaesthesiology. The Report concludes with overall findings and recommendations.
A draft Report is sent to the Head of Department to allow correction of factual inaccuracies. The final Report is then submitted as a confidential document to the EBCOG Executive Committee for final review and decision-making.
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Based on the recommendations, EBCOG accreditation as a training centre in Obstetrics and Gynaecology may be granted for four years, or a revisit after one or two years may be recommended. If full four-year accreditation is awarded, an on-paper review will take place at the end of this period to determine eligibility for a further three-year accreditation or a repeat site visit.
The Visiting team consists of two senior Gynaecologists experienced in the Visiting process, appointed by the Chair of the EBCOG Standing Committee for Training Recognition (SCTR), and one trainee appointed by ENTOG.