Impact of a 1-day urodynamic course on knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of urology residents

No evidence-informed educational curriculum is available for designing urodynamics (UDS) courses. We evaluated the learning outcomes of a short-lasting urodynamic course for urology residents.

Urology residents of postgraduate years 4 and 5 (n = 13 and n = 1316, respectively) attended a 1-day urodynamic course. Learning objectives included patient preparation, indication and technique, terminology, trace interpretation, and impact on patient management. Instructional methods consisted of short lectures (3 h) and case-based discussions (7.5 h). Learners' reactions, modifications of perceptions and attitudes, and acquisition of knowledge and skills were assessed by three written tests with a single group, pretest, posttest 1, and posttest 2 design. Tests were conducted precourse, 1 week after, and 4 months after the course.

All participants felt more confident in several urodynamic competencies after the course, including patient preparation, urodynamic indication and technique, terminology, trace interpretation, and impact for patient management. These perceptions remained unchanged after 4 months. Most became stricter in the indication of UDS, including 20 (87.0%) at posttest 1 and 8 (66.7%) at posttest 2. The mean number of correct answers in the knowledge evaluation was 52.2% versus 61.4% versus 56.7%, respectively at pretest, posttest 1, and posttest 2; p = 0.535). All participants rated the course as very useful or useful in both posttest evaluations.

Our study demonstrates that a 1-day urodynamic course can promote lasting improvements in self-reported perceptions, attitudes, and urodynamic-related competencies of urology residents. Further studies using evidence-informed educational principles are needed to determine the effect of specific educational interventions on urodynamic competencies in different contexts.