Department of Urology Residency Program

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Long-Term Goals:

To provide state-of-the-art training to all our residents in the art and science of urology. Our foremost intention is to recruit intelligent, qualified individuals and to train them into excellent urologic surgeons (open surgical and endoscopic).
To provide an environment that is stimulating to academic achievements. Our goal is to stimulate at least 10-15% of our resident pool to pursue a career in academia, and pursue further fellowship training.
Provide a milieu that encourages both basic and clinical research. This enhances the academic process and productivity of the faculty and residents.
To provide adequate supervision of the residents during their entire training process. With the rapid proliferation of technological innovations within urology, such supervision is critical to the growth of the residents.
To have top-notch faculty who are sub-specialized in each urologic sub-specialty. With technological innovations and procedures rapidly dominating the urology landscape, it is important that specialized faculty be available for teaching, research, and academic achievement.
To provide state-of-the-art technology for patient management. This directly results in increased patient referrals, which directly benefits our teaching and clinical research programs.
To work in unison with community urologists in the two-state area of Louisiana and Mississippi to further enhance our department as a Center of Excellence for urological referrals. This, once again, brings in difficult cases for management, further enhancing our status and resident experience.
To stay current with the changing healthcare environment so as to be proactive in patient management, outcome analyses, and thus be ready to deal directly with managed care products.


POLICY ON SELECTION

Qualifications:

Resident applicants are chosen based upon criteria established by the American Board of Urology.

Tulane Urology Residency Program requires that the student graduate from an accredited Medical School, followed by completion of one year of general surgical training. It is expected of all resident applicants that the general surgical training be completed through the General Surgery Department at Tulane University. Prior research experience and requirements can be accommodated as per American Board of Urology guidelines.

Following adequate completion of one year of general surgery, which Tulane University, Department of General Surgery, will provide, an additional four years of urologic training is required.

2009-2010 RESIDENCY MATCH

The 2009-10 application process has begun.   Tulane accepts applications through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Please register with ERAS to apply. For further information contact Ms. Demi Robert via e-mail at drobert@tulane.edu or by phone (504) 988-2794.

Tulane Urology participates in the Residency Match program. One year of general surgery rotation in the Department of Surgery at Tulane is an expectation, followed by four years in the Department of Urology.

Hospitals presently available for residency education and rotation:

Tulane University Hospital and Clinic (1415 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA) is the main campus and has all the latest urologic equipment including two fixed ESWL units, the da Vinci Robot (since 2002), and a wide array of urologic laparoscopic and other minimally invasive equipment, urologic prosthetics, lasers, etc.
Tulane-Lakeside Campus (Metairie, LA) is 11 miles from the main campus and was used post-Katrina to transfer services from the downtown campus. The Tulane Urology program will be maintaining a presence, though decreased, at this campus as well.
Children’s Hospital (New Orleans, LA) is approximately five miles from the medical school and is a comprehensive pediatric hospital. Our residents rotate for a total of six months per year at Children’s Hospital.
Medical Center of Louisiana in New Orleans (MCLNO) University Hospital is less than a quarter mile from the medical school. This is a level one trauma center and provides a full range of urologic services. Tulane Urology has had a non-stop presence in this location since its reopening in February, 2007. MCLNO has a wide range of urologic patient care activities. New equipment, post-Katrina, has significantly enhanced state of the art care for our patients at UH. This urology service is shared with the LSU Department of Urology.
VA New Orleans presently houses the outpatient services and diagnostic clinics. This is one block from the Tulane Medical School. Inpatients requiring surgery are transferred to the Tulane University Hospital for surgical, endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures.
West Jefferson Medical Center (WJMC) Located approximately four and a half miles from the medical school. WJMC is used by our residents to get advanced training in urodynamics and urinary incontinence. Clinical faculty at WJMC are available for a one-on-one supervision.


PRESENT ROTATIONS

Andrology, Infertility, and Urologic Prosthetics (for ED): Tulane Urology has traditionally had a very strong presence in these areas. This section is led by Dr. Wayne JG Hellstrom. Residents get an unparalleled experience in basic and complex urologic prosthetic surgery.
Endourology, Laparoscopy, and Robotic Surgery: Tulane Urology has a long history of being on the cutting edge of minimally invasive urologic surgery, boasting a large series of percutaneous lithotripsy procedures, rigid and flexible ureteroscopy including endopyelotomy, the largest experience of urologic laparoscopy in the entire Gulf South, as well as the oldest and largest experience in urologic robotic surgery. At the present time, Tulane Urology performs over 200 radical prostatectomies per year, is adept at performing robotic radical cystectomies, and has one of the largest series of robotic pyeloplasties.

Pediatric Urology: Presently, this is exclusively delivered through Children’s Hospital. Dr. Joseph Ortenberg is the program director at Children's Hospital. Children's Hospital is a full service pediatric facility.

Urodynamics and Incontinence: This rotation is led by Drs. Pablo Labadie, Wesley Bryan and Ryan Glass. This RRC approved rotation gives the residents a complete training in matters related to urodynamics and incontinence.
The anticipated future expansion of the faculty should further enhance the learning experience of our residents.


RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

Tulane Urology boasts over 3300 square feet of research laboratory space. This space includes a basic research area and Tulane Urology has state-of-the-art equipment, such as its own molecular biology laboratory (with equipment). There is also a specific clinical research office and though research is not mandated every effort is made to provide residents with necessary tools to fulfill any desire that the residents may have to embark on research and hopefully an academic career.


Features include:

A full service vivarium.

A small animals lab and a simulation center are also available on site.

Fully furbished molecular biology laboratories.

Collaboration with faculty in the Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine for outcomes research.