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UPJ Insight: The Northwestern University Novel Urology Residency Curriculum: Updated Outcomes from a 13-Year Experience with Flexible Residency Training and Electives

By: Lauren Folgosa Cooley, MD, PhD; Dylan Isaacson, MD; Amanda X. Vo, MD; Kelly Ross, BA; Stephanie Kielb, MD | Posted on: 01 Mar 2022

Cooley LF, Isaacson D, Vo AX et al: The Northwestern University novel urology residency curriculum: updated outcomes from a 13-year experience with flexible residency training and electives. Urol Pract 2021; https://doi.org/10.1097/UPJ.0000000000000287.

Study Need and Importance: We describe a 13-year experience with a novel urology resident curriculum with full urology program director oversight (similar to that implemented by the Urology Review Committee in 2019), including 8 months of postgraduate year 1 urology experience and upper level electives. We highlight best practices, educational outcomes and department satisfaction following institution of this novel resident curriculum.

Figure. Representative new curriculum (2006–2019). The first year includes 8 months of urology and 4 months of combined general surgery and surgical intensive care unit (SICU). Transplant and SICU night float general surgery rotations are completed during postgraduate year (PGY) 2. Residents have 1 protected year for research. Stroger County Hospital is an off-site urology rotation. NMH, Northwestern Memorial Hospital. VA, Veterans Affairs Hospital.

What We Found: With the institution of our novel curriculum (see figure), residents were able to augment their education with elective experiences, and the program director was able to eliminate minimally educational and previously mandated off-service rotations and optimize timing of general surgery rotations throughout residency (rather than just within the intern year) without compromising operative case volume, in-service scores or resident/faculty program satisfaction.

Limitations: Applicability of our curriculum at other institutions may be limited as we utilize physician extenders and 4 training sites and have a 4-resident per year complement, which allows for off-service, elective rotations and a relatively high operative volume.

Interpretation for Patient Care: Though not addressed directly in our study, numerous studies demonstrate that improved patient outcomes correlate with physician satisfaction with work environment.