Current Urology Views on Desirable Characteristics for First-Time Employment

Introduction Urological practices vie for a small number of graduating urology residents every year. In this study we determine the most desirable characteristics that current urology residents seek upon first-time employment. Methods A 19-question survey was created and e-mailed to all 124 ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) accredited urology residencies in the United States. This link was forwarded to the urology residents for the 2013-2014 academic year. Results A total of 232 responses were obtained, comprised of 187 from male residents (80.6%) and 43 from female residents (18.5%). Residents were primarily interested in practicing in a large urban area (153 of 232, 65.9%) or suburban setting (140, 60.3%), and 24 considered a rural location (10.3%). Female respondents were significantly more likely to consider a rural environment (p = 0.02). The most important choices when choosing a practice were geographic location (116 of 232, 50%) and proximity to family (51, 21.9%). The majority were very interested in part-time or full-time use of a physician assistant or nurse practitioner (188 of 232, 81%), and only 1 was not interested (0.4%). Overall 136 residents (58.6%) stated that they would use them for clinic and office procedures. Conclusions Most residents seek an urban or suburban setting in a group private practice. They prefer to work 40 to 60 hours per week close to their family or in a specific geographic region. Enticing residents to a rural setting may be difficult. The use of nurse practitioners or physician assistants is extremely desirable to current residents.