First National Urology Student Curriculum Launched Online
Web-based course teaches specialty basics
San Francisco, CA – November 17, 2008: Currently most graduating medical students know very little about managing common urological conditions such as prostate cancer, incontinence and kidney stones. This is due in part to the fact that medical information doubles every decade and priorities of medical education have changed to accommodate this flood of knowledge. As a consequence, only 17% of U.S. medical schools require students rotate through specialties such as urology, a marked decrease from 99% fifty years ago. This phenomenon is occurring despite the fact that urological diseases are highly prevalent, harbor enormous social and economic impact and have incidence that will likely increase with the aging of the U.S. population. The lack urology knowledge could cause a serious shortage of sub-specialists in the future and impact care in geriatrics, internal medicine, pediatrics and emergency medicine.
…The web-based approach provides a unique learning experience for students…”
– Dr. Paul Turek
In an effort to make urology more accessible to all medical students, the American Urological Association, in partnership with members Dr. Paul Turek, founder of The Turek Clinic in San Francisco and Dr. Price Kerfoot, Associate Professor of Urology at Harvard Medical School, have launched the first national web-based urology curriculum. The content is available free of charge on the American Urological Association website.
The content of the website is based on Drs. Turek and Kerfoot’s research on this issue published in the medical journal Urology (71 (4), p.549-553, Apr 2008). Key stakeholders in medical education, including residency training directors from pediatrics, emergency medicine and internal medicine as well as graduating medical students were surveyed about various subjects in urology and asked to rank which “core” topics would be critical for medical students to know. The ten content domains that form the foundation of the website were created based upon these rankings.
“The web-based approach provides a unique learning experience for students and allows us to use novel, cutting edge educational methods to teach it”, said Dr. Turek, who chaired the working group that drafted the curriculum. “This site will help ensure students graduating from medical school have learned basic urological knowledge that will make them better doctors regardless of their career direction.”
In the near future, the website will offer other learning tools including “how to” videos about performing key procedures including a urethral catheterization and a urologic physical examination, as well as a video atlas of urological surgical procedures, examination questions and biographies of innovative urologists. A highlight of the site will be an interactive email “spaced learning” course which will reinforce the curricular material through clinical scenarios sent via email at regular intervals to students.
Although developed for U.S. medical school standards, this curriculum will likely be useful internationally as well.
About The Turek Clinic
The Turek Clinic is a next-generation men’s healthcare medical practice specializing in issues facing reproductive age men, including male infertility, erectile dysfunction, vasectomy, vasectomy reversal, varicocele repair, and other minimally invasive procedures. The practice was founded in 2008 by Dr. Paul Turek, a pioneer in men’s reproductive health and former endowed chair professor at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Turek’s work combines innovative and cutting edge techniques with the wisdom of old-world medicine to treat and solve men’s health issues.
