Opinion Review
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World J Meta-Anal. Apr 28, 2020; 8(2): 41-47
Published online Apr 28, 2020. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v8.i2.41
European Specialty Examination in Gastroenterology and Hepatology examination — improving education in gastroenterology and hepatology
Isabelle Cremers, Anthea Pisani, Matea Majerović, Jan Lillienau, Spyros Michopoulos, Kristine Wiencke, Tony Ellis, Ian Barrison
Isabelle Cremers, Department of Gastroenterology, Centro Hospitalar de Setubal, Setúbal 2910446, Portugal
Anthea Pisani, Department of Gastroenterology, Mater dei Hospital, Malta MSD2090, Malta
Matea Majerović, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb 10000, Croatia
Jan Lillienau, Department of Gastroenterology, Lund University, Lund SE-22100, Sweden
Spyros Michopoulos, Department of Gastroenterology, Alexandra Hospital – Athens, Athens 11528, Greece
Kristine Wiencke, Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Transplantation Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo 0372, Norway
Tony Ellis, Department of Gastroenterology, Oxford University Hospital Trust, Oxford OX3 9DU, United Kingdom
Ian Barrison, Postgraduate Medicine, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire AL10 9EU, United Kingdom
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Isabelle Cremers, MD, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Centro Hospitalar de Setubal, Rua Camilo Castelo Branco, Setúbal 2910446, Portugal. cremers_tavares@hotmail.com
Received: December 2, 2019
Peer-review started: December 2, 2019
First decision: March 24, 2020
Revised: March 28, 2020
Accepted: April 15, 2020
Article in press: April 15, 2020
Published online: April 28, 2020
Processing time: 147 Days and 21.2 Hours
Abstract

The Federation of Royal Colleges, the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) and the European Section and Board of Gastroenterology and Hepatology developed the European Specialty Examination in Gastroenterology and Hepatology (ESEGH) from the United Kingdom Specialty Certificate Examination, which was the original examination. Since 2018 the Specialty Certificate Examination and the ESEGH were combined into a single exam, identical across Europe and the rest of the world. The ESEGH is mandated in 4 countries (United Kingdom, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Malta) and the number of entries increased from 50 in 2014 to 490 in 2019. Candidates from countries were the ESEGH is not mandated are sitting the Exam, showing us they realize the enormous interest of holding a certificate for knowledge in their Curriculum. We also have an increasing number of candidates from countries outside Europe.

Keywords: Examination; Specialty; Education; Gastroenterology; Hepatology; Curriculum

Core tip: The examination is one of the largest Physician Specialty Examination in Europe, and is a four-way cooperation between Union of European Medical Specialties, The European Board of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the British Society of Gastroenterology and the Federation of Royal Colleges of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom GMC formally approved the European Examination in January 2018. The European Specialty Examination in Gastroenterology and Hepatology is mandated in 4 European countries and the increasing number of candidates in countries were not mandated is a measure of success.