Perception, knowledge, and interest of urologic surgery: A medical student survey

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.Background Although only a limited number of medical schools require a formal educational rotation in urologic surgery, urology as a medical specialty continues to attract a large number of students into the match each year. The purpose of this study was to describe medical student awareness, perception, and knowledge of urology, to determine factors influencing students’ consideration of urology as a career, and to determine if prior urology clerkship experience is associated with differences in these variables. Methods In this cross-sectional study, medical students were electronically surveyed in 07/2016. Self-reported and question-based knowledge of urology were determined. A total of 25 factors were assessed with a five-point Likert scale to determine their influence on students’ consideration of urology as a career. Data analysis was performed using R. Results The survey was completed by 114 students (13.5% of all medical students). A total of 11(9.65%)students had previously participated in a urology clerkship. All students reported awareness of urology; however, only 74 students (64.9%) correctly identified the training pathway and job duties of urologists. Self-perceived knowledge of urology was poor but improved with increased medical school training. Question-based assessment also demonstrated increased knowledge with advanced medical school training (27% per year; p < 0.01). Prior urology clerkship experience appeared to be associated with increased urologic knowledge; however, this was confounded by year in medical school training. When assessing factors impacting students’ consideration of a career in urology, ‘combination of medicine and surgery’ was the most positively influential and ‘competitiveness of the specialty’ was the most negatively influential. Conclusions Although medical students are aware of urology as a specialty, they perceive their knowledge of urology as poor. However, knowledge of urology increases throughout medical school training. Multiple factors influence students’ consideration of urology as a career choice. Additional studies are needed to further explore how participation in a formal urology experience alters students’ perceptions and influences their consideration of urology as a career choice

Association of bowel habits with lower urinary tract symptoms in men: findings from the 2005-2006 and 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

PurposeWe examine the association between self-reported lower urinary tract symptoms and bowel habits in men in a large, cross-sectional, population based cohort study.Materials and methodsThe study included 3,077 men participating in the 2005-2006 or 2007-2008 cycles of the NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) who were 40 years old or older and without a history of prostate cancer. Men were considered to have lower urinary tract symptoms if they reported nocturia, urinary hesitancy and/or incomplete bladder emptying. Bowel habits were characterized by frequency of bowel movements per week and stool consistency based on the Bristol Stool Form Scale. Weighted associations between bowel habits and lower urinary tract symptoms were determined using univariate and multivariate techniques, adjusting for age, race, body mass index, diabetes, alcohol intake, activity level and smoking.ResultsThe prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms was 37%, with 4% reporting all 3 symptoms. Reporting 3 or fewer bowel movements per week was associated with nocturia (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.21-2.30), incomplete bladder emptying (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.06-4.31) and urinary hesitancy (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.06-4.02). Reporting more than 10 bowel movements per week was associated with nocturia only (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.01-1.55). Hard (OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.31-2.37) and loose (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.01-1.55) stool consistency increased the odds of reporting nocturia.ConclusionsLower urinary tract symptoms in the adult male were independently associated with low stool frequency, hard stool type and loose stool type. These data suggest causality or a common pathophysiology of lower urinary tract symptoms and abnormalities of bowel habits