Engaging and Empowering Female Urologists in Academic Publishing and Peer Review.

N/A.

A Strategy for Undergraduate Medical Education in Urology During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a framework for a virtual curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic for medical student educators that introduces and teaches clinical concepts important in urology and surgical specialties in general. METHODS: We created a 1-week virtual urology course utilizing interactive lectures, case-based exercises, and faculty-proctored surgical video reviews. Students were assigned self-study modules and participated in case-based discussions and presentations on a topic of their choice. Students' perceptions of urology as a specialty and the utility of the course was evaluated through pre- and postcourse surveys. Understanding of urologic content was evaluated with a multiple-choice exam. RESULTS: A total of nine students were enrolled in the course. All students reported increased understanding of the common urologic diagnoses and of urology as a specialty by an average of 2.5 points on a 10-point Likert scale (Cohen's measure of effect size: 3.2). Additionally, 56% of students reported increased interest, 22% reported no change and 22% reported a decreased interest in pursuing urology as a specialty following the course. Students self-reported increased knowledge of a variety of urologic topics on a 10-point Likert scale. The average exam score on the multiple-choice exam improved from 50% before the course to 89% after the course. CONCLUSIONS: Various teaching techniques can be employed through a virtual platform to introduce medical students to the specialty of urology and increase clinical knowledge surrounding common urologic conditions. As the longevity of the COVID-19 pandemic becomes increasingly apparent and virtual teaching is normalized, these techniques can have far-reaching utility within the traditional medical student surgical curriculum.

Genitourinary Prosthetic Use among Prostate Cancer Survivors Treated with Radical Prostatectomy.

INTRODUCTION: Erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence are well-known side effects of radical prostatectomy that, when refractory to medical therapy, can be addressed by major genitourinary prosthetic surgery (urethral slings, artificial urinary sphincters, penile prostheses). Although these procedures have been evaluated in single institution studies, population based analyses regarding their use have been sporadic. Thus, we characterized post-prostatectomy genitourinary prosthetic surgery in a contemporary, population based cohort of men with private insurance. METHODS: Using MarketScan® Commercial Claims data we identified men who underwent radical prostatectomy between 2009 and 2010 based on coding. Our primary outcome was receipt of genitourinary prosthetic device based on codes documented in claims from 2009 through 2015. Other factors of interest included patient age, comorbidity and geographic region. RESULTS: We identified 23,813 men who underwent radical prostatectomy in 2009 and 2010 (mean [SD] age 55.5 [9.1] years). Overall 731 men (3.07%) underwent genitourinary prosthetic surgery, including 243 (1.0%) for male slings, 111 (0.5%) for artificial urinary sphincter and 377 (1.6%) for penile prostheses. Median time to the first prosthetic surgery was 21.7 months (SD 12.9, range 1.2 to 54.5). Men undergoing prosthetic surgery for post-prostatectomy complications were older (57.1 vs 55.5 years, p=0.001) and more likely to be diabetic (31.9% vs 22.6%, p <0.001) than the remainder of the cohort. There was no significant difference in treatment with surgery based on overall comorbidity or geographic region (all p >0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Overall treatment with genitourinary prosthetic surgery for incontinence (1.5%) or erectile dysfunction (1.6%) was rare following radical prostatectomy. However, diabetic and older men demonstrated a greater likelihood of device placement..