Clinical Training

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Comprehensive Clinical Training in Urology

The department consists of specialized services that collectively provide excellent and varied clinical material that covers all aspects of urologic practice:

  • Andrology and Sexual Medicine (including erectile dysfunction, Peyronie’s disease, etc.)
  • Endourology and Urinary Stone Diseases (including percutaneous surgery, endoscopic surgery and shock wave lithotripsy)
  • Gender Affirming Surgery
  • General Urology (including transurethral surgery, ultrasonography and laser surgery)
  • Infertility and Microsurgery
  • Neurourology and Urodynamics 
  • Pediatric Urology
  • Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery (URPS; formerly known as FPMRS)
  • Urologic Oncology (including open and laparoscopic surgery)
  • Urologic Trauma and Urinary Tract Reconstruction

R1 - Interns

First Year of Residency (PGY1)

Medical students match directly into our six-year program through the AUA Urology Residency Matching Program.

The Intern spends 6 months of their first year with the UCSF Department of Surgery where rotations focus on maximal exposure to basic open and laparoscopic general surgery procedures, critical care, kidney transplant, trauma, and plastic surgery. 6 months is spent with the UCSF Department of Urology at UCSF Health Sites: Mission Bay Campus for 3 months and the Parnassus Heights Campus for months. In this role, the intern will learn how to perform urologic inpatient care, consults, and gain experience in the clinic and operating room across a broad spectrum of urologic conditions including: pediatric, oncology, and benign urology.

Interns spend 3 months at our UCSF Health Parnassus campus where they will: 

  • Learn to provide inpatient care of adult post-surgical urology patients.
  • Learn to take a detailed history and perform a focused physical exam for common urologic consults. Provide a differential diagnosis for these consults and develop patient presentation skills.
  • Gain exposure to procedures such as cystoscopy, catheter placement, externalized stent placements, incision & drainage, suprapubic tube exchange, bladder irrigation, priapism interventions, etc.
  • Gain exposure to urgent OR-based procedures such as stent placement, clot evacuation/fulguration, surgical management of priapism, etc.

Interns will spend 3 months at the Mission Bay Campus receiving hands on experience in Urologic Oncology and Pediatric Urology. During this rotation, interns will: 

  • Learn to provide inpatient care of pediatric and adult post-surgical urology patients.
  • Learn to take a detailed history and perform a focused physical exam for common urologic consults for children and adults. Provide a differential diagnosis for these consults and develop patient presentation skills.
  • Develop experience in clinic-based evaluation of adult oncology patients with attending supervision.
  • Gain exposure to clinic-based procedures such as prostate biopsy, prostate ultrasound, cystoscopy, urodynamics, etc.
  • Participate in afternoon rounds every day, including a resident (PGY1-4) and either the chief resident or oncology fellow, whoever is out of the OR first or available.

The resident’s principal role is to gather information, learn to assess its significance and begin learning basic invasive and operative techniques. The opportunities for this level of resident to show interpretive skills are limited to simple clinical settings. At this level the faculty expects the resident to report completely on the status of patients and their treatment plans, but not to develop these plans for the patients.

Rotations: 

  • Kaiser General Surgery
  • Mission Bay Colorectal/Endoscopy
  • Mission Bay HPB-GI-Skin-Soft Tissue Oncology
  • UCSF Complex General Surgery
  • UCSF General Surgery/Acute Care Surgery
  • UCSF Kidney Transplant
  • UCSF Liver Transplant
  • UCSF Vascular
  • VA or UCSF Cardiothoracic
  • ZSFG Neurosurgery
  • ZSFG Trauma/General Surgery
  • Vacation: 1 month

Visit the General Surgery UCSF page for more information. 

R2 Residents

First Year of Urology Residency (PGY2)

The PGY2 Resident continues their training at the VAMC, Mission Bay and the San Francisco General Hospital campus.  Four months are spent at the Bakar Cancer Center at Mission Bay, where two of the months are spent on the Pediatric Urology service.  Objectives for this rotation include broad exposure to urologic oncology surgeries and patient care, robotic surgery, ultrasound skills, and brachytherapy.  Four months are spent at the San Francisco General Hospital where the resident focuses on trauma, general urology, cystoscopy, transrectal ultrasound, and endourology.  Residents begin to develop their ultrasound and robotic surgery skills.

3 Month Rotation

R2's gain experience in general, oncologic, reconstructive, and endourology through a combination of outpatient clinics, inpatient care, and operating room procedures:

  • Clinical Setting: Transrectal ultrasounds, cystoscopy, fluoroscopy imaging and interpretation in the clinic setting.
  • Operating Room: Open, laparoscopic, robotic, and endourologic skills.

3 Month Rotation

The R2 concentrates primarily on trauma, general urology, cystoscopy, transrectal ultrasound, and endourology. During this rotation, second year residents develop open, endoscopic, and laparoscopic surgery skills.

Nightfloat Resident: 2 Month Rotation
  • Based at the Parnassus, ZSFGH, and MB Adult Services, covering care for UCSF Health inpatiernts, answering service calls, and emergency room consults.
Infertility Day Float: 2 Month Rotation
  • Based at Parnassus, Mission Bay, and Bayfront where residents are exposed to subspecialty outpatient and operative care in infertility, endourology, and neuro-urology with one-on-one apprenticeship.
Pediatric Urology Resident: 2 Month Rotation
  • The resident learns Pediatric Urology in the inpatient, outpatient, and operating room environments based at the Mission Bay Campus. 

R3 Residents

Second Year of Urology Residency (PGY3)

The PGY3 Resident begins to develop a deeper understanding of the specialty with 4-month rotations each at the Parnassus and Mission Bay campuses, and the San Francisco General Hospital.  The resident spends two months each on the Endourology/Stones service and subspecialty reconstruction at Parnassus, and two months on the Pediatric Urology service at Mission Bay.   Residents focus on continuity of care from diagnosis to follow up and learn to work in different health systems. 

Residents expand and refine their knowledge in general, oncologic, reconstructive, and endourology through outpatient, inpatient, and operating room experiences. Residents will improve upon clinic-based procedures such as transrectal ultrasound, cystoscopy, and fluoroscopy imaging and interpretation. 

The resident focuses on trauma, general urology, cystoscopy, transrectal ultrasound, and endourology and residents work on refining their open, endoscopic, and laparoscopic surgery skills.

Residents expand and refine their knowledge in general, oncologic, reconstructive, and endourology through outpatient, inpatient, and operating room experiences. Residents will improve upon clinic-based procedures such as transrectal ultrasound, cystoscopy, and fluoroscopy imaging and interpretation. Residents during this rotation will refine their open, laparoscopic, robotic, and endourologic skills.

Nightfloat Resident: 1 Month
  • Sites: Parnassus, ZSFGH, and MB Adult campuses
  • Residents will cover care for UCSF Health inpatients, answering service calls, and emergency room consults.
Infertility Day Float: 1 Month
  • Sites: Parnassus, Mission Bay, and Bayfront 
  • Residents are exposed to subspecialty outpatient and operative care in infertility, endourology, and neuro-urology with one-on-one apprenticeship.
Pediatric Urology: 1 Month
  • Sites: Mission Bay and the Children's Benioff Hospital in Oakland
  • Resident expands upon pediatric knowledge in the inpatient, outpatient, and operating room environments. 
Endourology: 1 Month
  • Resident learning focuses on sub-specialty care in the inpatient, outpatient, and operative settings including clinic-based care and procedures, laparoscopic skills and endourologic skills.
Female/Neuro-Urology: 1 Month
  • Resident learning focuses on sub-specialty female pelvic medicine and neuro-urology related to both pediatrics and adults. This is a clinic and operative-based rotation.

R4 Residents

Third Year of Urology Residency (PGY4)

The PGY4 Resident continues to refine their knowledge of urological procedures with disease processes and spend focused time in all areas of Urologic subspecialty and advance their surgical skills in open, laparoscopic, robotic, endoscopic, and microsurgery.  They spend four months at the Bakar Cancer Center at Mission Bay serving as the senior Oncology resident and eight months at the Parnassus campus.  While at the Parnassus campus, rotations include Endourology/Stones and Urologic subspecialties such as reconstruction, female urology, andrology, infertility, and erectile dysfunction.  On the subspecialty block, residents function as the junior Chief Resident of the Parnassus service.

During the fourth year of residency, residents focus on refining their surgical and urologic skills, while also enhancing their ability to mentor junior residents and demonstrate leadership. The PGY4 will spend the entire year rotating at several different UCSF Health rotation Sites and services:

During this rotation, PGY4 residents focus on running the inpatient/consult service and team at Parnassus. They will also learn transgender outpatient, operative, and inpatient care as well as refining their endoruologic techniques.

The resident focuses on refining sub-specialty care in the inpatient, outpatient, and operative setting. This also includes: clinic-based care and procedures, laparoscopic skills, and endourologic skills.

During this clinic and operative-based rotation, the PGY4 focuses on refining sub-specialty female pelvic medicine and neuro-urology related to both pediatrics and adults.

The rotation focuses on refining sub-specialty male reconstructive care including clinic-based procedures and evaluation, inpatient care, and learning complex operative skills including genital and abdominal reconstruction and implants.

Based at the Mission Bay Campus, this rotation focuses on urologic oncology in the outpatient, inpatient, and operative room setting. During this rotation residents will learn sub-specialty care focusing on urothelial cancer, prostate cancer, renal cancer, and penile cancer.

R5 - Research Year

Fourth Year of Urology Residency (PGY5)

The PGY5 Resident spends one year dedicated to research.  This may include basic science, translational, clinical or outcomes research.  Some residents elect to pursue advanced degrees during this year.  Often residents explore advanced training in statistics, trial design, international and public health depending upon their interests and career goals.  They lead the quality improvement initiative for the department.

R6 - Chief Residents

Fifth Year of Urology Residency (PGY6)

The PGY6 Resident will finish their urology residency training dedicated to: 

  • Developing leadership skills
  • Advancing surgical technique
  • Perfecting patient care
  • Deciding upon future career goals

Furthermore, the chief resident runs the service at each location and acts as a primary surgeon for major cases and as a teaching surgeon for minor cases with junior residents.

Additionally, Chief Residents also, direct management for inpatient and outpatient care and Work with an increasing degree of independence throughout the year as they prepare for the transition to fellowship or independent practice.

During their chief year, their rotation sites are spent at the following sites:

  • San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center (SFVAMC) - 3 Months
  • Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFGH) - 3 Months
  • UCSF Health Sites: Parnassus and Mission Bay - 3 Months

The SFVAMC Chief Resident will: 

  1. Manage the lead inpatient service under the direction of the staff physicians
  2. Ensure resident coverage of all operative procedures.
  3. Assume major teaching role of the junior residents assigned to the service and all medical students on the service.
  4. Develop proficiency in all aspects of operative urology including the use of the Da Vinci robot.
  5. Direct the urology clinic under faculty supervision.
  6. Coordinate and manage the surgical schedule to optimize educational value while ensuring efficient workflow and sound patient care.
  7. Lead the weekly SFVAMC All Hands including supervising inpatient presentations, discussion of M’s, presentation of interesting cases, presentation of urodynamics patients, and review of preops.
  8. Take responsibility for evaluation of the night float resident.
  9. Present morbidity and mortality of all SFVA patients both at the VA M&M conference as well as take responsibility to report the M’s weekly to UCSF and present M’s as requested by the M&M committee.
  10. Responsible for managing the VA Direct Patient Line

The ZSFGH Chief Resident will: 

  1. Manage the lead inpatient service under the direction of the staff physicians.
  2. Ensure resident coverage of all operative procedures.
  3. Assume major role for teaching of the medical students on the service.
  4. Assume major role in the teaching of the more junior residents assigned to the service.
  5. Develop proficiency in all aspects of operative urology.
  6. Direct the urology clinic under faculty supervision.
  7. Coordinate and manage the surgical schedule to optimize educational value while ensuring efficient work flow and sound patient care.
  8. Review and analyze case histories, radiologic and other investigations for patients to be presented at the patient care conferences scheduled twice-monthly and x-ray conference at SFGH.
  9. Present the monthly M&M report at Chief Case Conference.

The UC Chief Resident will: 

  1. Manage and lead the inpatient pediatric and adult service under the direction of the faculty physicians.
  2. Ensure resident coverage of all operative procedures.
  3. Assume major roles for teaching the medical students and sub-interns on the services.
  4. Assume a major role in teaching the more junior residents assigned to the service.
  5. Develop proficiency in all aspects of operative urology.
  6. Take responsibility for weekly reporting of M’s from across the Mission Bay site.
  7. Coordinate and manage the surgical schedule to optimize educational value while ensuring efficient workflow and sound patient care.
  8. Oversee the administration of the two UCSF sites. Guide the junior chiefs and develop their leadership skills.

Rotation Sites

Residents rotate between the following UCSF locations: 

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