Current State of Urologic Medical School Education: A Scoping Review

To review current literature pertaining to the availability and implementation of urology-focused curricula, in an effort to highlight current approaches to urologic education at the medical school level.

A medical librarian searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, ERIC, and Scopus for articles focused on undergraduate urology education. Two reviewers adjudicated all retrieved titles. Only those describing interventions in undergraduate medical urology education were included in the review. Data extracted from each article included, but were not limited to: sample size, instructional aim, type of intervention, outcome measurement, significance of results, and strength of evidence.

After removal of 1478 duplicate search results, 2425 unique titles remained for adjudication. Title and abstract screening excluded 2311. The remaining 114 articles met inclusion criteria. The articles focused on knowledge-based education (43), urologic curricula (22), clinical skills education (19), surgical skills training (15), and survey of student experiences in urology (15). 73 had been published since January 1, 2010.

Analysis of the published literature reveals a paucity of articles investigating implementation and outcomes of formal urologic curricula. Most of the literature focuses on acquisition of knowledge concerning narrow urology-related topics. Physicians often receive minimal exposure to formal urologic curricula during their undergraduate years. Appropriate interventions aimed at increasing undergraduate student familiarity with common urologic scenarios are warranted. The results of this study can inform the efforts of urology programs seeking to expand their educational opportunities.