The Urology Residency at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, provides six years of postgraduate training — the first year of surgery rotations (PGY-1), four years of clinical urology (PGY-2, -3, -5, -6), and one year of dedicated research (PGY-4).

Clinical training

During the PGY-1 year you spend six months on general surgery services and six months on adult urology service, participating in the day-to-day operations of the service. You are actively involved in diagnostic evaluation of urologic patients, pre- and postoperative care, assisting in the operating room with both minor and major open procedures, and participating in endoscopic and laparoscopic operations.

The second year of residency is the first full year of urology (PGY-2). You become familiar with urologic diagnosis, endoscopy, urodynamic technique and theory, and management of urologic oncology patients. You also acquire basic operative skills and in-depth experience with both common and uncommon urologic disease processes.

The PGY-3 and -5 years provide intensive training in pediatric urology, endourology, female urology, infertility, erectile dysfunction, and urologic oncology. The rotation in urologic oncology offers significant exposure to patients with prostate, bladder, or renal cancer.

The PGY-4 year will be a protected year of research during which each resident will be given the opportunity to pursue basic science, translational, or clinical outcomes research, or a combination thereof. There will also be opportunities to take formal courses on statistical methodology. Additionally, the PGY-4 year affords residents the time and opportunity to pursue medical mission trips, solidify decisions on career choices, and the flexibility to explore any aspect of urology (I.e. AUA policies) during this time.

The final year of urology (PGY-6) consists of hospital and clinical rotations, including senior and chief resident assignments. This experience allows you to mature into a knowledgeable, confident, and skillful urologic surgeon capable of independent thinking and conducting the most difficult operations.

Rotation schedule

The following is a typical rotation schedule for the Urology Residency. Each rotation lasts approximately two months.

Your PGY-3, PGY-5 and PGY-6 rotations are spent in clinical urology. You assume increasing responsibility in caring for urologic patients, culminating in an appointment as chief resident associate in urology during the final year of your residency.

As a senior resident in PGY-5, you carry out consultations on urologic patients and actively share in preoperative decisions about surgery. You participate fully in urologic procedures, both open and transurethral, and in postoperative management in the hospital and outpatient clinics.

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.

Didactic training

Clinical conferences, seminars, small discussion groups, journal clubs, and one-on-one instruction are all integral parts of the Urology Residency.

Daily activities include formal hospital rounds.

Weekly activities:

• Imaging and pathology conferences presented by and for residents and consultants, including case presentations and reviews of excretory urograms, CT scans, ultrasounds, and MRIs
• Academic seminars and consultant lectures in basic science and allied clinical subjects
• Thursday morning pediatric urology conferences, with participation from staff in urology, pediatrics, radiology, and nephrology
• Radiology, nephrology, and general surgery conferences

Monthly activities:

• Pathology lectures, case presentations, and morbidity and mortality conferences
• Journal clubs
• Bimonthly genitourinary multidisciplinary cancer conference

Your didactic training also 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, and basic cardiac life support.

Call frequency

Your call schedule varies by individual rotation. Mayo Clinic follows the recommendations of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Teaching opportunities

You have the opportunity to teach Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine students and visiting students from other medical schools through bedside instruction and formal didactic lectures.

Committee assignments

Residents serve on departmental committees related to education, research, and clinical practice. Urology residents also make up the Residents Affairs Committee, where they discuss concerns related to the program. Issues raised at Residents Affairs Committee meetings are forwarded to the Urology Education Committee for additional input.

Moonlighting

Extramural employment (moonlighting) at a facility not on the Mayo Clinic campus is permitted for those who hold a valid license to practice medicine. Residents are not required to moonlight.

Time spent moonlighting must not interfere with your program requirements and academic performance at Mayo Clinic. The program director must provide written approval for residents to moonlight.

Awards

Each year, the residents have an opportunity to submit papers to the Minnesota Urological Society's Kelalis Resident Essay Competition. There are first- and second-place winners, with cash prizes awarded.

The Mayo Clinic Current Perspectives in Urology meeting held every other year requests that residents submit manuscripts, with the winner presenting his or her paper and attending the meeting in Hawaii.

Urology residents are eligible for Mayo Brothers Distinguished Fellowship Award. This award provides a $2,000 traveling scholarship for a one-week period of time.

The annual Joseph W. Segura Resident Essay Contest offers urology residents the opportunity to submit original research for presentation and monetary prizes.

Various awards have been received from the American Urological Association and its North Central Section, as well as the National Kidney Foundation of Minnesota.

Evaluation

To ensure that you acquire adequate knowledge and develop your technical skills, your performance is monitored carefully during the course of the Urology Residency. You are evaluated formally by your supervising faculty member after each clinical rotation. In addition, you regularly evaluate the faculty to ensure that your educational needs are being met.

Career development

You meet periodically with various faculty members, administrators and the residency director to discuss your individual career goals. Mayo Clinic recruits many of its staff physicians from its own training programs, so when you successfully complete the Urology Residency, job opportunities may be available within the Mayo Clinic system.

Additional training

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

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.

Fellowships offered at Mayo Clinic include the:

• One-year Minimally Invasive Urologic Surgery Fellowship (Minnesota)
• One-year Andrology Fellowship (Minnesota)
• Two-year Urologic Oncology Fellowship (Minnesota)

If you are accepted for a fellowship, you continue to receive in-depth, daily, one-on-one training with a consulting physician. You also have the opportunity to increase your own supervisory and administrative skills. Contact your faculty adviser for more information about these opportunities.