Third year medical student attitudes toward learning urology

Purpose: We studied certain research questions, including the learning envi ronments in which third year medical students perceive that they acquire ur ological knowledge and skills, and whether medical students interested in u rology as a career have different perceived learning needs than those inter ested in other specialties. Materials and Methods: A survey instrument was pilot tested and revised. Th e instrument elicited student perceptions of how they best learned urologic al diagnosis and skills. Student attitudes toward the third year urology ro tation and career motivation toward urology were assessed. Consecutive stud ents were surveyed after completing the third year urology rotation. Results: Most students perceived that they learned to manage most urologica l problems by seeing patients in outpatient clinics and they learned to per form physical examination and urinalysis interpretation by seeing patients. The overall usefulness of various learning environments was highest for se eing patients in clinic, followed by resident teaching, following inpatient s, independent reading, watching open surgery, formal conferences, watching endoscopic surgery and routine menial work. Students interested in urology as a career choice were equally motivated by seeing patients in clinic, th e subject matter and seeing surgery. Conclusions: Third year medical students perceive that the most important u rological learning environment is outpatient evaluation of patients. The ur ological learning needs of third year medical students are not different in those interested and not interested in urology as a career.