Urology Residency

PGY-1

• General surgery: 6 months at University Hospital
• Urology: 3 months at University Hospital
• Urology: 3 months at Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center

The general surgery rotations are curated to include colorectal surgery, transplant surgery, minimally invasive surgery, surgical trauma and burn ICU, and pediatric surgery services. Your time with the urology team is spent learning the importance of post-surgical inpatient care, completion of surgical consults, and the basics of time within the operating room.

PGY-2

• Urology consults: 4 months at University Hospital
• Urology: 4 months at the VA
• Pediatric urology: 4 months at Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital

Perform as the primary inpatient consult resident. The highlight of this year is learning to triage surgical consults while balancing time in the operating room. Begin junior overnight call.

PGY-3

• Urology outpatient clinic: 4 months at the Rutledge Tower Outpatient Ambulatory Clinic (on the same campus as MUSC University Hospital)
• Urology: 4 months at University Hospital
• Urology: 4 months at the VA

Spend a majority of your operating time performing endourologic procedures and learning the basics of robotic surgery. Continue junior overnight call.

PGY-4

• Transplant surgery: 4 months
• Urology: 4 months at University Hospital
• Pediatric urology: 4 months at Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital

The surgical experience includes time spent in the endourology room, robotic room, open benign and oncologic cases, as well as kidney, pancreas, and liver transplants. Perform as the chief on the transplant surgery service. Begin senior overnight call.

PGY-5

• Urology: 3 months at the VA
• Urologic oncology: 6 months at University Hospital
• Benign: 3 months at University Hospital

Perform as the chief of the inpatient service at both the VA and the main hospital. Hone in on your robotic skills and open surgical skills.

One chief and one junior resident assigned to the MUSC rotation make the monthly call schedule.

The department allows for call to be taken from home as long as patient care is not compromised. Call for the senior resident is every 4 weeks back up call. The residency director reserves the right to institute "in-house" call should there be any indication that patient care has been compromised.

Call for the junior resident varies from 4 to 5 weeknight calls (Q6) and approximately 1 weekend block calls every 6 weeks. The intern shares with weekend block call.

Outside after-hours calls are directed to either the junior resident or the chief resident.

All physician calls are directed to the attending physician on call. The on-call attending will be designated as the physician of the day and is responsible for all consults on that day. Adult attending call schedules run from Friday through the next Friday.

Interns and junior residents take active ownership of patient care, performing timely evaluations, meeting patients pre operatively, assisting in the OR, and managing operative notes and discharges. These central responsibilities position you to develop strong clinical instincts early.

As residents advance, independence expands in a structured, collaborative way. Junior residents communicate admissions, consults, and patient changes to senior residents. All residents work closely with attendings who guide care, reinforcing independent thinking with appropriate oversight.

Professionalism, respect, and open discussion of clinical judgment are core expectations. Residents are trusted and supported as integral members of a robust care team.

Third- and fourth-year MUSC medical students and visiting sub-interns rotate through the Department of Urology each year. The resident team is expected to be active participants in medical student teaching.

Students are encouraged to follow patients postoperatively and round with you, spend one-on-one time with attendings in clinic, and scrub for the OR. Morning rounds with the chief resident, junior resident, intern, and students, although informal, are a rich learning experience where resident-to-student teaching is the focus.

There are also ample opportunities for students to become involved in research, and residents can facilitate student research.