Instead of doing a “Week in the Life” as for the Internal Medicine clinical rotations, I’ve switched to just sharing about the posting in general! And also ending off with thoughts on the specialty itself (in case you’re considering it or just want to find out more, haha).
What Urology Clinical Posting is Like
Generally, in a Uro posting we have a mix of OT (operating theatre), clinics, ward rounds, and tutorials.
- OT: Just like all other surgical specialties, if you’re interested, you can hop into the OT to watch the surgeries. Since our Uro posting was only one week, and I wasn’t particularly interested in it as a specialty, I didn’t want to squander several hours in the OT. However I did watch some procedures in clinic.
- Clinics: Unlike Ortho or GS, Uro clinics are not divided into subspecialties. It’s just Uro clinic.
- Ward rounds: The rounds are probably shorter than for Internal Medicine subspecialties? Maybe around an hour on average. Nothing too exciting.
- Tutorials: We didn’t really have scheduled teachings for Uro during our posting, but we managed to arrange one with the doctor we were attached to.
The Highlights of Urology Posting
The highlights of Urology posting for me were:
- Seeing the urological procedures. Urology is a procedure-heavy specialty by nature, and getting to see some of these in real life was quite eye-opening.
- Asking questions. I was glad I managed to study some stuff beforehand, and therefore went to the posting with questions. (On my Word document I keep a “dumb questions” list. This is for me to note down random questions I have and remember to ask the consultants.) This was my biggest takeaway from ward rounds and clinics. Otherwise I feel like I may not have learnt that much.
- Learning about the urological conditions. Even though Urology is a specialty I never considered, I still enjoyed learning about all the various conditions. It’s essential medical knowledge and also at interplay with other specialties in medicine.
The Lowlights of Urology Posting
These are not really ‘lowlights’, but the not-so-highlights of Uro posting:
- A lot to learn in very little time. Our Uro posting was only one week, and as you can imagine, the content is not sparse. Uro is, after all, a whole specialty on its own. (But I still think one week is okay, haha – see point 2.)
- Not my area of interest. This is not a lowlight by the way! I can’t really think of anything else. As mentioned, I did actually enjoy learning about the conditions! Okay but I guess the procedures and cases don’t excite me as much inherently.
Overall Impressions of Urology as a Specialty
It’s one of those specialties they reckon girls should never consider doing (and hence, it wasn’t in my purview either). But there are definitely female urologists! And, contrary to popular belief, urological patients are not all males. For instance, ureteral obstruction and bladder cancer can affect women too. (And hence I was thinking, it’s nice to have some female urologists in the field! Female patients may feel a sense of kinship or slightly more comfortable with a female physician.)
The general sense I got was that urologists are very good-natured people. I was extremely impressed by the doctor I was attached to for the short one-week posting. It was not anything mind-blowing or life-altering. It was his professionalism, patience, and dedication. Not just to his patients but to his colleagues and us medical students. There’s one encounter I just have to mention:
The clinic itself was boring (sorry) but I was truly inspired by our doctor’s professionalism. I just thought wow there’s so much to emulate. And I’m so thankful for these dedicated and competent people who are in this specialty (that I wouldn’t go into, haha).
Besides my tutor for the posting, my other impression is derived from two urologists who came to give us teachings at school. Both had a great sense of humour. They were cracking jokes that made us all laugh. So, generally, very good-spirited people.
ONE Example of Something You Might See in Urology
(Image source: Medical News Today)