Italian urological manpower: Employment prospects and future scenarios - Apanorama of employment opportunities for young urologists

introduction: Italy delayed limiting access to the Faculty of Medicine and the reform of schools of specialization was not accompanied by programming the number of scholarships, so employment expectations are often disappoint ing. The aim of this study is to analyze the employment prospects of specia lists in urology through the development of possible scenarios for the 5-ye ar period 2000-2004, Materials and Methods: We recorded data received from Italian Schools of Specialization in Urology on specialists in the 5-year p eriod 1994-1998, We also tried to obtain a picture of the national distribu tion of urologists and urological units. Statistical processing was done wi th SPSS for Windows 5.0, Results: In the last 5 years, 501 urologists were licensed at an average age of 37 years; 535 urological units exist; 2,332 d octors practice urology (2,235 males and 97 females) for a ratio of 1 urolo gist to 24,500 inhabitants. By comparing the 'entrance' forecast with the p otential 'exit', we can hypothesize an annual excess of 80 units. There is no significant correlation between the number of urologists in each structu re and the number of inhabitants for each urologist. Conclusions: The prese nt government programme does not take into account continual changes in emp loyment and many other variables when defining the actual need for speciali sts. For valid predictions, the data we obtain must be updated for at least 5 years. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.