Urology Residency Curriculum

The urology residency training program is a 5-year training program designed to provide an educational experience in the prevention of urologic disease and diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment of urologic abnormalities, along with reconstruction in neoplastic disease and correction of deformities and injuries. The clinical experience provides exposure to all genitourinary diseases and conditions encountered in urologic practice. The actual hands-on experience is supplemented by an extensive didactic program (involving weekly academic conferences that supplement clinical care, provide basic science exposure and a comprehensive understanding of urologic disease processes) and by a state of the art surgical skills laboratory where repetitive processes can be practiced effectively.

The urology residency program begins with one year of general surgery followed by four years of clinical urology training under the direction of full-time and clinical faculty. During the General Surgery year, three months are spent rotating on the urology service and one month is dedicated to research. The second through fifth years are devoted solely to urology. The experience provided to residents in our program combine inpatient and ambulatory care at all facilities and is based on a graded system where a junior resident begins to learn basic endoscopic procedures such as cystoscopy, urethroscopy, uncomplicated ureteroscopy and complicated minor and major surgery with gradation of experiences to the level of chief resident. Resident clinics start in the first year of urology and allow residents to follow patients through their entire residency program. This has allowed the residents to have an experience that more closely mimics the experience they will have when they are in practice. Residents follow their patients from the initial evaluation through the treatment and follow-up over a four year period. Residents are then able to understand which treatments work and which ones do not work well for their patients and they are given an opportunity to develop relationships with their patients. Residents are also encouraged to participate in and present at regional and national conferences.

The full-time faculty includes a fellowship-trained pediatric urologist, a fellowship-trained endoscopist, a fellowship-trained female urologist, a general urologist and a urologic oncologist. The faculty members perform complex adult and pediatric reconstructive cases including bladder reconstruction and continent diversion. There are also many adult and pediatric laparoscopic procedures being performed, many utilizing the da Vinci Robotic System. There is a dedicated research lab specializing in oncologic research, specifically bladder and prostate. Ongoing clinical research in urologic oncology is conducted jointly with the Simmons Cancer Institute, using nuclear scanning techniques and flow cytometry. Additionally, there is a complete treatment facility for calculus disease including laparoscopy, endoscopy and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. Residents also have opportunities to work in our complete urodynamics lab, and in the areas of neurogenic bladder, urodynamics, fluoroscopy, prosthetic devices, endourology, microsurgery, and infertility.

The SIU Division of Urology covers two hospital systems: Memorial Medical Center and St. John’s Hospital. These hospitals are located in downtown Springfield, IL and are five blocks apart.

Memorial Medical Center is a 562 bed hospital that had 19,000 admissions in 2003. St. John’s Hospital is a 731 bed hospital that has 22,000 admissions in 2003. The hospitals alternate Level I Trauma status with each other each year. The SIU Division of Urology is located in St. John’s Pavilion, adjacent to St. John’s Hospital.

Program Accreditation

The program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). After the last site visit, we were accredited for the maximum 5-year cycle (through 06/2015) with zero citations and two commendations.
At completion of the residency program, residents are eligible for certification by the American Board of Urology.