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Department of Urology Surgery 443 Subinternship

The faculty and residents in the Department of Urology are looking forward to working with you over the next four weeks. We have designed a rotation that will broaden your exposure to all aspects of urology. We hope you find the experience rewarding and that you will come to share our passion for this intriguing field.

Download the syllabus

About the Program

We anticipate that you will actively participate in the ambulatory, inpatient, and operative care of our patients. You will be interacting closely with faculty and residents at the UC San Diego Medical Center, Hillcrest, and Thornton Pavilion (part of Jacobs Medical Center)

Please note that you are expected to attend Urology Grand Rounds every Wednesday morning. Other regular conferences which you should attend, for which you will be given a schedule, include:

  • Pediatric Urology Grand Rounds at Rady Children’s Hospital
  • Radiology & pathology rounds
  • UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center Genitourinary Tumor Board

Please also note that Grand Rounds at Rady Children’s Hospital notwithstanding, pediatric urology, is not a regular part of this course. If pediatric urology is something that particularly interests you, please notify Dr. Yahir Santiago-Lastra, the course director, to make special arrangements

Goals and Objectives

Upon completion of this course students should be able to:

  • Describe the epidemiology, pathophysiology, natural history, presentation, and medical and surgical treatment of the following urological conditions:
    • Diseases and tumors of the adrenal gland
    • Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)
    • Erectile dysfunction and Peyronie’s disease
    • Genitourinary trauma
    • Male factor infertility
    • Neurogenic bladder
    • Urinary incontinence, infections, obstruction, stones
    • Bladder, kidney, prostate, testicular cancer
  • Demonstrate familiarity with the principles and equipment of open, laparoscopic, and endoscopic urological surgery.
  • Discuss the principles of, and controversies associated with, population screening for prostate cancer with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and other serum screening tests.
  • Describe the differential diagnosis and evaluation of hematuria.

Expectations 

The student will be expected to participate in the following activities:

  • Evaluate and follow selected patients on the inpatient urological services at the Hillcrest, Thornton, and VA hospitals under the supervision of the chief/senior residents and faculty. These activities will include the writing of daily progress notes and the formulation of appropriate management
    plans.
  • Evaluate and follow selected inpatients as a urological consultant at the Hillcrest, Thornton, and VA hospitals under the supervision of the residents and faculty. These activities will include the writing of consultation notes and the formulation of appropriate consultation plans.
  • Assist with open, laparoscopic, and endoscopic urological surgery under the direction of the chief resident and attending’s.
  • Round daily on urology inpatients under the direction of the chief resident.
  • While on the University service (Hillcrest and Thornton), attend general urology clinic at the Hillcrest facility at least one day per week under the direction of the chief resident.
  • Attend at least one day of clinic during the rotation with Dr. Christopher Kane at the Moores Cancer Center. Arrangements will be made by the administrative office, and you will be assigned a specific day.
  • Attend at least one half day of clinic with Dr. Michael Albo at the Women's Pelvic Medicine Center at the Perlman facility. Arrangements will be made by the administrative office, and you will be assigned a specific day.
  • Attend at least one half day of clinic with Dr. Mike Hsieh at the Chancellor Park clinic. Arrangements will be made by the administrative office, and you will be assigned a specific day.
  • Attend at least one half day of clinic with Dr. Karim Kader at the Moores Cancer Center. Arrangements will be made by the administrative office, and you will be assigned a specific day.
  • Attend at least one half day clinic with Dr. Roger Sur at the UCSD Medical Center, Hillcrest clinic. Arrangements will be made by the administrative office, and you will be assigned a specific day.

Evaluations and Grading

The faculty, fellows, and residents in the Department of Urology are sensitive to the fact that most, if not all, Surgery 443 students are strongly interested in careers in urology. The course director will gather evaluations from faculty and residents and compile these into an overall grade. The course director will also solicit feedback from nurses and other ancillary staff with respect to professionalism and the student’s ability to function as an effective member of the health care team. Criteria for grading are as follows:

  • Honors – The student must receive evaluations of Outstanding on the majority (>50%) of their evaluations, with no scores of Satisfactory or less. In addition, the student’s formal presentation must be judged Very Good or Outstanding by a majority (>50%) of faculty evaluators.
The course director will also consider narrative comments. A single negative narrative comment will normally be disregarded; however, if a pattern emerges of negative comments concerning clinical performance or professional behavior, the student will not be awarded Honors.
  • Pass – The student must receive Satisfactory scores on the majority (>50%) of their evaluations and the student’s formal presentation must be judged Satisfactory by a majority (>50%) of faculty evaluators.
  • Fail – The student will fail if any of the following deficiencies occur: 1) >50% of the evaluations received are less than Satisfactory; 2) a large number of narrative comments are overtly negative, particularly with respect to professionalism, interpersonal behavior, or work ethic; 3) repeated unexplained absences not previously cleared by the course director; or 4) any egregious act including but not limited to HIPAA violations, unsupervised pelvic examinations, or verbal or other abuse of a colleague or patient. An Outstanding formal presentation will not overcome any of these deficiencies to allow a Pass.

While the course director solicits feedback from all residents and faculty, there may be other individuals—including fellows and ancillary personnel—with whom the student has worked with closely. Students are therefore encouraged to request that such individuals be included in the evaluation process.

The course director will meet with the student 3 times during the rotation:

  1. During the 1st week to orient the student
  2. Approximately 2 weeks into the rotation to provide mid-rotation feedback
  3. At the end of the rotation to provide a final assessment. In addition, the student is encouraged at any time to approach the course director with any questions, concerns, or ideas for course improvement.

The mid-cycle evaluation meeting is scheduled 2 weeks into the rotation with Dr. Yahir Santiago-Lastra to discuss the rotation in general and address any concerns or request. At this time you will also be expected to have a topic for your end of rotation presentation to the department.

Rotation Schedule

You will spend 4 weeks on the University service. The distribution of these assignments within your rotation will depend on how many students are rotating on the service at any given time and will be determined at the beginning of the month by the course director and the course administrator.

Each working day, you will be expected to round on the inpatient service as directed by the chief or senior resident. The chief resident is the individual responsible for the day-to-day management of this service.

On unscheduled days, you will be directed by the chief resident to which operative case you will assist in or clinic assignment the day prior. You will also be expected to attend the various conferences (radiology, pathology, pediatrics) listed on the schedule.

Each Saturday morning during the month, you will round with the on-call attending and residents on the inpatient services depending on your specific assignment for that week. There is no overnight call on this service and you will have no responsibilities on Sunday.

Faculty

Course Contacts

Adela Lopez
Course Administrative Coordinator:
Tel: 619-543-2659
Email: alopez@ucsd.edu


Dr. Yahir Santiago-Lastra
Course Director
Email: ysantiagolastra@health.ucsd.edu