Teaching Urology to Undergraduates: A Prospective Survey of What General Practitioners Need to Know

Abstract

Background: Higher education training in Medicine has considerably evolved in recent years. One of its main goals has been to ensure the training of students as future adequately qualified general practitioners (GPs). Tools need to be developed to evaluate and improve the teaching of Urology at the undergraduate level. Our objective is to identify the knowledge and skills needed in Urology for the real clinical practice of GPs. Methods: An anonymous self-administered survey was carried out among GPs of Primary Care and Emergencies which sought to evaluate urological knowledge and necessary urological skills. The results of the survey were exported and descriptive statistics were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 19.0. Results and limitations: A total of 127 answers were obtained, in which ‘Urological infections’, ‘Renal colic’, ‘PSA levels and screening for prostate cancer’, ‘Benign prostatic hyperplasia’, ‘Hematuria’, ‘Scrotal pain’, ‘Prostate cancer diagnosis’, ‘Bladder cancer diagnosis’, ‘Urinary incontinence’, and ‘Erectile dysfunction’ were rated as Very high or High formative requirements (>75%). Regarding urological skills, ‘Abdominal examination’, ‘Interpretation of urinalysis’, ‘Digital rectal examination’, ‘Genital examination’, and ‘Transurethral catheterization’ were assessed as needing Very high or High training in more than 80% of the surveys. The relevance of urological pathology in clinical practice was viewed as Very high or High in more than 80% of the responses. Conclusions: This study has shown helpful results to establish a differentiated prioritization of urological knowledge and skills in Primary Care and Emergencies. Efforts should be aimed at optimizing the teaching in Urology within the Degree of Medicine which consistently ensures patients’ proper care by future GPs.