3rd Year Medical Students

As part of the MS-3 Clerkship, a two-week urology rotation is available.

A Urologist is a physician who specializes in diseases of the urinary tract and the male reproductive system. This can include diseases affecting the bladder, urethra, ureters, kidneys, and adrenal glands, along with the epididymis, penis, prostate, seminal vesicles and testes. Some examples of the diseases and subspecialties that our department addresses include: benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), kidney stones (shock wave and laser lithotripsy), endourology (including laparoscopy and robotic surgery), erectile dysfunction (ED), female urology and pelvic medicine, female sexual dysfunction, incontinence, male reproductive medicine & surgery, neurogenic bladder dysfunction, neuro-urology and urodynamics, prostate disease and urologic oncology (cancer of kidneys, ureters, bladder, prostate, urethra, testicles, adrenal glands).

  • Reporting Instructions for 1st Day:
    • We will send you a preliminary schedule for the first week (cases/clinic assignments) the week prior to your start. Please let us know if there are any expected absences or conflicts with the schedule. Please plan to meet on Monday morning at 6:30am in the Colorectal/Urology workroom on 4-West (Rm 4176). Page #9000 if any questions or need help finding us that morning.
  • Call/Weekend Schedule:
    • All students on the 2 week subspecialty blocks at BMC will be assigned to one 12-hour weekend shift in the emergency department to work with the surgery resident, seeing emergency surgery consults, and evaluating trauma patients. Please report to Menino Room 3336 or Menino Room 3334 “Trauma Residents Room” at the beginning of your shift to find the “4000” resident. If no one meets you there after 20 minutes, please page 4000 and ask where to meet. Please note that overall, students will be assigned two call shifts if on the two-week subspecialties during the first half of the clerkship, and if on the 2 week subspecialties during the second half of the clerkship, will only be assigned one ER call. Otherwise, there is no night or weekend call while on the urology service.
  • Schedule:
    • Monday – Wednesday
      • Variable based on individual schedule – clinic or OR
    • Thursday
      • Urology Grand Rounds (7:30-9:30 AM) at the JP VA. Residents will drive you over after rounds at BMC. Please wear clinic clothes/white coat. No preparation necessary unless specified by resident team.
      • Clinic or OR afterwards
    • Friday
      • Resident education (7:00-9:00 AM)
      • Students are usually excused after morning rounds to attend Surgery Didactics
  • Clinical Duties:
    • Pre-round on patients you are following
    • Round with team and give a patient “SOAP” format presentation
    • Assist with dressing changes, assist with floor work, assist in the operating room, look up and report back on topics assigned by chief resident/senior resident.
    • Prepare for operating room (by looking of the patient’s information, the case – such as relevant anatomy, techniques).
    • Note writing/documentation:
      • OUTPATIENT notes in clinic – you will likely be working directly with your attending. Whether or not you write notes, how many notes, and in what format will be left to your attending’s discretion. Please clarify with her/him at the beginning of the day. Please make sure when you log into EPIC, you are in the “OUTPATIENT” setting for the medical student outpatient note system to function properly. Also, when you write notes in clinic, you will add the attending as “cosigner” in the box at the top of the
        note. When finished, select “Sign on saving not” from the dropdown at the bottom of the note, and then click “Accept.” Your note will be routed to the attending for attestation and cosign. It is important to sign all notes prior to leaving clinic so that the attending is able to “close” the encounter. Please spend at least one half-day in the office with Dr. Wason during your rotation

        • Please see “Tip sheets” posted on blackboard for more information on note writing.
  • Presentation
    • You are required to give a 10-minute informal presentation to the resident team towards the end of your rotation. The topic should be something specific within urology that interests you. This can be influenced by something you saw during your rotation or not. Discuss early on in the rotation topic ideas with the residents. Please be sure to include some degree of literature review. You will either be presenting to Dr. Wason directly or the residents and then sending
      him a copy of the presentation.
  • AUA Medical Student Core Curriculum
    • Please review the AUA Medical Student Core Curriculum during your rotation. These 11 topics were felt to be at a minimum of what all graduating medical students should know about urology. There are also 8 uroradiology cases that urologist encounter on a frequent basis you should become familiar with. You can even download the app (with cases) onto your smartphone for easy reference during your two weeks. Dr. Wason will plan to meet with each of you towards the end of the rotation and will select one ‘topic’ and one ‘uroradiology’ case to go over with you in mock oral board format. Hopefully, you will find this is a good framework to direct your studying.
  • Brief Advice on How to Succeed:
    • Very important to read up for cases – know the patient, relevant anatomy, the disease, the surgery, etc.
    • You can wear scrubs if in the OR and you should wear clinic clothes if you are assigned clinic. Please
      always wear your white coat.
    • Observe in the OR and try to engage – how do resident’s set up for cases, how does the team prepare
      patient on the OR table for the case, etc.
    • Ask questions!
    • Try to put in at least 5 Foley catheters during your rotation.
    • Please let me know if you have any questions. Page #9000 on Thursday or Friday before your Monday
      start if there is any confusion.
    • If you find you find yourself considering going into urology – let us know!