Educating the Educator: Understanding Essential Components of Contemporary Urology Residency Training

The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of evidence-based methods for urology programs and urologists to improve resident education as well as identify potential future research into this topic.

Urology residency training has evolved significantly over time. However, there is concern that graduating urology residents are not adequately prepared for independent practice. There are several reasons for this concern, including decreased surgical autonomy in training and a finite amount of time and number of cases that a resident can experience during training. There are many components of urology residency training, including didactic, simulation, intraoperative, and non-technical skills education. While many of these have been studied, there is room for better understanding into how to optimize learning opportunities in each of these domains. Currently, urologic education is heterogeneous and remains more of an art than a science.

As we have long embraced evidence-based medicine, we should also push for evidence-based education in urology through continued study into how to best educate future urologists.