Clinical training

The Urology Residency provides five years of postgraduate training in clinical urology. As a PGY-1 resident, you’ll begin your training with a well-rounded mix of general surgery and urology rotations designed to provide a strong clinical foundation for your urologic career. Six months are spent on general surgery, including three months in general surgery rotations such as general surgery and colon and rectal surgery. The remaining three months offer exposure to surgical subspecialties like transplant surgery, ICU, and vascular surgery. The other half of the year is focused on urology, where you’ll rotate through the medical urology service, the VA hospital, and take on a junior role alongside the Chief resident. The structure ensures early and meaningful exposure to urology, while developing essential surgical skills. Your second year will include thorough exposure to general urology skills such as prostate biopsy, endoscopy, basic urologic procedures and surgeries, and initial exposure to urologic oncology. Your third, fourth, and fifth (PGY-3 through PGY-5) year rotations are spent in clinical urology where you assume increasing responsibility in caring for urologic patients. Training culminates in an appointment as chief resident associate in urology during the final year of your residency.

You are given considerable responsibility and independence during your training, which is enhanced by both the large number of patients you see, and the complicated nature of many of their urologic problems. Equal emphasis is placed on endoscopic, endourologic, and open surgical procedures. The time allotted to each of these varies according to your individual needs.

First year

During the first year of your residency, your time is split evenly between general surgery and urology rotations. These rotations will include acute care general surgery, ICU, vascular surgery, colorectal surgery, interventional radiology, transplant, acute hospital care urology, medical urology, and general urology. This allows you to comply with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education program requirements.

Second year

During the second year of the residency, you become familiar with:

• Urologic diagnosis
• Endoscopy
• Urodynamic technique and theory
• Management of the urologic oncology patient
• Basic operative skills
• Common and uncommon urologic disease processes
• Communication and presentation skills

Third and fourth year

PGY-3 and 4 provide intensive training in:

• Pediatric urology
• Endourology (BPH and stones)
• Female urology
• Infertility
• Erectile dysfunction
• Urologic oncology, including significant exposure to patients with prostate, bladder, ureteral, testicular, penile, and renal cancer

Fifth year

The final year of urology consists of hospital and clinical rotations, including senior and chief resident assignments. This experience gives you the opportunity to run your own outpatient clinic and schedule your own surgical cases. This allows you to mature into a knowledgeable, confident, and skillful urologic surgeon capable of independent thinking and conducting the most difficult of operations. This also prepares you to enter the urologic workforce immediately out of residency and start your own practice or join an existing practice with ease. 

Rotation schedule

The following is a typical urology residency rotation schedule.

Call frequency

Mayo Clinic follows the recommendations of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Moonlighting

Extramural employment (moonlighting) for trainees at or above a PGY-2 level with a valid license to practice medicine are eligible to moonlight. Residents are prohibited from moonlighting within the specialty of their current training without written MCSGME approval, except in emergency medicine where residents are permitted to moonlight in an emergency room and/or urgent care setting. Residents are not required to moonlight.

Didactic training

Clinical conferences, seminars, small discussion groups, journal clubs and one-on-one instruction are all an integral part of Mayo Clinic's Urology Residency Program. The following list gives you an overview of the didactic portion of the program.

Weekly activities

• Formal hospital rounds daily
• Academic seminars and consultant lectures in basic science and allied clinical subjects
• Pediatric urology conferences while on pediatric urology rotation
• Radiology, nephrology and general surgery conferences monthly activities
• Pathology lectures, case presentations and morbidity-mortality conferences
• Journal clubs
• Grand rounds presentations by staff and residents

Your didactic training includes periodic reviews of surgical specimens, postmortem findings, instructive cases and urinary microscopy. You have the opportunity to take courses in laser technique, laparoscopy, microsurgical technique, computer training, basic cardiac life support and writing for scientific publications. 

Case studies

Weekly imaging conferences are attended by residents, attendings, and advanced practice providers and provide opportunities for case-based didactic learning, group discussions of complex patient scenarios, and improving skills in radiology (CT, ultrasound, MRI) and pathology.

Book allowance

A department book allowance has been established for each resident, which provides a copy of "Campbell's Urology" and "Hinman's Atlas of Urologic Surgery."

All residents have 24/7 electronic access to the Mayo Clinic Libraries from all institutional workstations within the institution and from home.

Research training

The Urology Residency includes basic science and clinical research. A large surgical database, excellent research support, and experienced mentors are available to assist you with research projects.

Ongoing collaborations with investigators in anesthesiology, epidemiology, pathology, biomedical engineering, nephrology and radiology provide resources and support for research projects.

You are also expected to be active with data collection and manuscript preparation. You will present at least one scientific study at a national meeting and publish at least one article in a peer-reviewed journal.

Teaching opportunities

You have the opportunity to teach medical school students from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and University of Arizona Medical School, as well as visiting students from other medical schools, through bedside instruction and formal didactic lectures.

Teaching opportunities continue through residency with regular didactic presentations and simulations. Chief residents work closely with junior residents and serve as their mentors and educators during call, hospital consults, and in the OR.

Evaluation

To ensure that you acquire adequate knowledge and develop the appropriate technical skills to meet program expectations, your performance is monitored carefully during the Urology Residency. You are formally evaluated by supervising faculty members on a regular basis and meet with the program director and assistant program director to review these evaluations two times per year. In addition, you regularly evaluate the faculty to confirm that your educational needs are being met.

Career development

You meet periodically with various faculty members, administrators, and the training program director to discuss your individual career goals. Mayo Clinic recruits many of its staff physicians from its own training programs.

Additional training

At the conclusion of your urology residency, you may wish to continue your graduate medical education at Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education.

Several post-residency training fellowship positions are offered in subspecialty areas of urology. These fellowships emphasize clinical training in all aspects of a particular subspecialty, but can be tailored to your specific career requirements and interests.

If you are accepted for a fellowship, you will continue to receive in-depth, daily, one-on-one training with a consulting physician and also have the opportunity to increase your supervisory and administrative skills.