Thank you for visiting our new website.
My name is Katharina Sokoll, a rheumatology trainee working in the United Kingdom. I have been the chair for EURORIT’s since June 2004. Let me tell you about EURORIT’s:

1. What are EURORIT’s (European Rheumatologist in Training)?
We are a fairly new organization of European rheumatologists in training. We have been working as part of part of EULAR - the European League Against Rheumatism for 2 years. Each European country is represented by one elected representative who must be a rheumatology trainee. There is one chairperson. So far not all European countries are represented though. We hope that this web site will improve this and encourage participation from trainees all over Europe. The list below has the names and contact details of the current representatives for each European country. This short introduction is also an invitation to join our team of volunteers. We are keen to have a representative for each country. If your country is not yet represented and you would like to do so please get in touch.

What are the aims of EURORIT’s?
Our aim is to provide a link between EULAR and its trainee members.
We want to
- analyze and compare training programs in the individual member countries with the view to coordinating training across Europe`
- identify educational needs in particular European countries and looking at ways to help meet these
- spread information on available bursaries, funding, courses
- build a platform for medical and scientific collaboration and exchange programs
We also work with the Eular Standing Committee for Education and Training (ESCET) who themselves work with the UEMS (Union Européenne des Médcines Spécialstes or European Union of Medical Specialists). ESCET is a very important group of Senior Members who plan and organize courses and meetings as part of EULAR. Since many of these courses and meetings are aimed at trainees this offers the opportunity to identify and feed back what trainees would like to see covered and addressed in these courses.

What have we achieved so far:
1. We have been able to set up a group of interested trainees from across Europe and some other countries. This was not easy as trainee representatives form the individual European rheumatological societies had to be identified, contacted and asked to find an interested and accepted representative for their country. The keeping track of individuals can also be time-consuming as moving jobs may entail a change of contact details.
2. We have looked at training across Europe and the results of this survey have been presented by Amital Howard in Berlin this year and will hopefully be published in Annals of Rheumatic diseases soon. This survey revealed a vast discrepancy in training across Europe from a few months to a four year program adhering to a curriculum. Training in eastern European countries is more variable and attendance of international meetings and courses often hampered by lack of funding. Access to journals may also be more difficult.

What are we currently working on:
1. Our main project at present is to set up the EURORIT’s website in order to allow wider access to the information we wish to convey and also to help raise awareness and interest in our activities.
2. We hope to recruit a full complement of representatives (one for each European country) for the next  EULAR meeting in Vienna, 2005..

What do you need to do to become a EURORIT?
1. You need to be an enthusiastic rheumatology trainee with an interest in training issues and promoting collaboration across Europe. There is no funding from EULAR.
2. You need to be able to attend the EURORIT’s annual meeting (tied in with EULAR) or ideally send a representative in your place. This is important as issues discussed and action plans made during this meeting need to be fed back to the trainees in your country
3. You need to be able to feed back information from EURORIT’s to the trainees in your country which usually happens in connection with the trainee representative of your countries rheumatological society.

If you are trainee in rheumatology join our small community and be the first to know...
 We believe EURORIT’s is an important group which can help shape training in Rheumatology across Europe and encourage collaboration.

Any opinions or ideas, you can email us at eurorits@eurorits.org