Surgical education in Greece.

Nowadays, many important changes to residents' education are being introduced, including the regulation of working hours, the waiting time to start specialization, the training programs in new technologies, the heterogeneity of trainers and educational centers, and the existence of many different subspecializations. In Greece we have not yet established all the arrangements needed to meet the European Community's legislation concerning working hours apart from the extremely long waiting time to begin surgical training. There is an enormous heterogeneity among hospitals that provide surgical specialties, but there is no educational program that all residents have to follow to complete their training. Only in major university or general hospitals are the residents enrolled in a specific educational program and complete an adequate number of surgical procedures. With respect to training in new technologies, there is a lack of experienced surgical departments around Greece that provide this type of education to all residents. Of course, efforts have been made to meet the international educational criteria and there are many major general hospitals that can provide an adequate and up-to-date surgical education, although much still needs to be done to meet the international standards.