Medical Student Education
When you train with our faculty, we’ll augment your understanding of urology, providing you with essential knowledge that you’ll tap throughout your career.
We conduct a comprehensive program in undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate medical education. These academic endeavors are directed towards clinical and research activities, emphasizing correlates between basic sciences and clinical problems. Clinical facilities of the following hospitals are utilized for these activities: Buffalo General Medical Center, Children's Hospital of Buffalo, Erie County Medical Center, Millard Fillmore Hospital, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The goals of a rotation through urology are to familiarize students with the principles of diagnosis and management of common urologic disorders. Students are integrated as fully participating members of the urology team at the individual institution to which they are assigned. Students, therefore, participate in clinical rounds, the diagnostic evaluation of patients, operative procedures and clinics. It is anticipated that students will develop skills in the evaluation of imaging studies and gain an introduction to the various diagnostic techniques, including endoscopy, sonography, CT scans and MRI.
The common goals of each of the rotations are as follows:
- Students will be integrated as fully participating members of the urology team at the institution to which they rotate.
- Students will participate in clinical rounds, operative procedure, patient evaluations, clinics and post-operative care, and will be expected to attend all departmental-wide teaching and clinical conferences and rounds, as well as those conferences specific to their particular institution.
- During their rotation, the students are encouraged to correlate clinical with pathologic findings.
- At the conclusion of the rotation it is anticipated that students will have developed an understanding of the various domains of urology and to become familiar with at least the initial stages of a urologic evaluation.
Why Urology?
Urology is an exciting field, and you will find during your rotations that urologists are excited about what they do every day. It is a speciality that allows for physicians to develop clinical and surgical skills and is advancing rapidly with new technologies and treatments. The video below, Why Urology?, provided by the American Urological Association, gives you a short introduction to our field.
Courses
SUR 800 Surgical Specialties, 4 credits
This module in surgical specialties includes experience in both hospital and clinic-based surgery. The course is 4 weeks in length and includes two different 2-week rotations in the choices of Anesthesiology, ENT, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedic Surgery, or Urology. (Note: Ophthalmology is offered on a limited basis in Block/Module 1a/A & Block/Module 1b/B as they take reduced students those timeframes. As well, Ortho is no longer offered in Block/Module 1a/A as they no longer take SUR800 students in that time frame.)
The goal of this experience is to prepare the learner for the practice of medicine by offering an experience in the scientific basis of surgical practice and exposure to a range of surgical specialties. In this course, the learner will increase their working knowledge of the clinical practice of surgery and surgical subspecialties. The learner will be able to apply this knowledge to the patient’s complaints and design therapeutic plan.
Direct patient contact is through participation in hospital rounds, clinical practice, office practice and participation in seminars. At the onset of the course, each student is provided with a course syllabus describing the objectives and expectations (Goals Statements). Small numbers of students are assigned to the surgical specialty services. The students are expected to attend the surgical conferences at the hospital to which they are assigned. They are expected to reach and master any assigned texts and handouts.
The Student Evaluation and Education Committee assigns the grade according to the academic status policies of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Grades for the clerkship are based on completion of defined goals and clinical evaluations.
Prerequisite: MS3 or MS4
Modules: A-K
Blocks: 1-4No. of students: up to 12; less in 1a/A & 1b/B
Course Director: Brittany Montross, MD
Course Coordinator: Gayle Thomson
URO 800 Subinternship in Clinical Urology, 4 credits
This rotation provides diverse experience in all of the domains of adult urology and reflects the spectrum of urologic conditions. You will gain exposure and hands-on experience in endoscopic, robotic/laparoscopic and open procedures while rotating at Buffalo General Medical Center, Oishei Children’s Hospital and Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital. You will be expected to participate in daily rounds, see inpatient consultations and participate in outpatient clinics.
You will participate in weekly resident conferences including basic science, journal club, grand rounds and wieder’s club. You will be expected to give a 10-minute grand rounds presentation during your rotation on a topic of your choice.
Steven Crowe, program coordinator, will contact students with instructions about their rotation assignments
Prerequisite: Successful completion of SUR 700 or SUR 800
Modules: A-K Blocks: 1-4
Number of students: 2
Course Director: Teresa Danforth, MD
Program Coordinator: Steven Crowe
Please direct questions to Dr. Danforth.
URO 819 Virtual Urology Sub-Internship, 4 credits
This 4-week elective will focus on learning the pathophysiology of urologic diseases, clinical management of the urologic patient in both inpatient and outpatient settings, and the surgical management of urologic diseases.
The goal of this elective is to engage medical students who have interest in urology through a virtual environment, allowing for interaction with residents and faculty, access to didactic lectures from sources across the country, as well as participate in group learning activities such as journal club and grand rounds conferences.
Students will be provided exposure to comprehensive patient care that includes a full spectrum of urological illnesses including urinary stones, incontinence, BPH, pediatric and adult UTI, ED, acute scrotum, hematuria, and prostate cancer, with a focus on the application of new technological solutions for common urologic conditions. Students will be exposed to new minimally invasive procedures, robotic surgery, endoscopy and open surgical procedures.
Students will engage in various activities within online learning environment while interacting with a team of attendings and residents during the 4-week rotation. This elective will be offered up to three times per year.
Prerequisite: Successful completion of SUR 700 or SUR 800
Modules: C (Fall ) and I (Spring) Blocks: 1C (Fall) and 3B (Spring)
Number of students: 2
Course Director: Teresa Danforth, MD
Course Coordinator: Steve Crowe
Please direct questions to Dr. Danforth.
Deadlines
For the 2023-2024 academic year, we will use standardized away rotation dates.
- All requests to apply for our URO 800 Subinternship in Clinical Urology and URO 819 Virtual Urology must be done through VSAS/VSLO.
- Deadline to apply for our URO 800 Subinternship in Clinical Urology and URO 819 Virtual Urology rotations is Monday, May 1, 2023.
- On Monday, May 8, 2023, decisions will be made and you will be notified via VSAS/VSLO of our decision for your rotation in the 2023-2024 academic year.
- Students must accept or decline the offer by Friday, May 12, 2023.
This will ensure that student rotations are filled in a timely manner, and that both programs and students are not waiting to receive an answer about their schedules.
Elective Courses
Our electives let you pursue clinical and research experiences tailored to your interests.
Medical Student Shadowing
If you are a Jacobs School medical student and would like to request to shadow a urologist, please contact:
Training Program Administrator
Steve Crowe
Training Program Administrator
Department of Urology
Buffalo General Medical Center, 100 High Street, Buffalo, NY 14203
Phone: (716) 859-3760; Fax: (716) 859-4015
Email: scrowe2@buffalo.edu