Stone Specialist,Cancer Surgeon,or Both? Optimizing the Endourology Fellowship Training Model

Abstract

Background:

The traditional endourology fellowship model includes advanced training in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for both benign disease/kidney stones and oncology. We have anecdotally observed, however, that many former endourology fellows subspecialize within their practices. Recently the fellowship paradigm, accredited by the Endourological Society (EUS), has been modified to allow for emphasis on benign disease/kidney stones or laparoscopy/robotic surgery, which is heavily weighted toward oncology. In this study, we sought to assess the practice patterns of former endourology fellows to evaluate various fellowship models.

Methods:

Email addresses for 320 of the 327 endourology fellowship graduates between 2001 and 2010 identified by the EUS were obtained. These were cross-referenced with the American Urological Association (AUA) member database to maximize the yield of valid addresses. A 20-question electronic survey (SurveyMonkey Inc., Palo Alto, CA) was sent to this group. Eleven addresses were invalid and 24 recipients opted out of the survey.

Results:

Responses were received from 121 of 285 former fellows with active email addresses who did not opt out of the survey (42.5%). Of these respondents, 86% completed fellowships in North America and 71% completed 1-year fellowships. Among respondents in academic practice (46%), 44% reported a “mixed” benign and oncology-based practice, compared to 68% of nonacademic practitioners (P=0.009). Among academic practitioners, 33% practice predominantly MIS for benign disease, and 24% practice predominantly MIS for oncology, versus 23.1% (P=0.3) and 9% (P=0.04), respectively, of nonacademic practitioners. Most fellows had stability of clinical interests (benign v malignant disease) before and after their fellowship.

Conclusion:

Fellowship-trained endourologists who work in an academic setting are more likely to have a subspecialized practice. A subset of private practice endourologists also have focused practices in benign disease. While the traditional fellowship model will be useful for some graduates, subspecialized tracks may improve the efficiency of the training model.