[Education of medical students in urology in Germany: present status].
BACKGROUND
There is a growing demand for doctors in Germany and diseases of the genitourinary tract have become more prevalent in recent years. Politicians plan to increase the number of students in an already heavily overloaded system but data on quality and structure of medical education in Urology are lacking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent and quality of undergraduate medical education in urology.


METHODS
Departments of Urology at German University Hospitals were surveyed using a questionnaire. Questions covered four different fields of medical education and answers were analyzed by descriptive statistics.


RESULTS
Of the teachers involved in medical education 97% are physicians and 4% of these have special didactic qualifications. On average 1 teacher is responsible for 13 students and 44% of departments also have to carry out medical duties during teaching lessons. More than half of the departments offer modern learning forms, such as e-learning, problem-oriented learning or skills laboratory training.


CONCLUSIONS
Urology departments at German University Hospitals spend much time on medical education. Nearly all physicians are involved in medical education, whether they are experienced or not and in many cases teaching is carried out in parallel to patient care. In more than half of the cases modern education tools were employed which implies a good standard of quality but there are no data on outcome.
Klinik und Poliklinik für Urologie und Kinderurologie, Universitätsklinikum Bonn AöR, Sigmund-Freud-Straße 25, 53127 Bonn, Deutschland. Timo.Strunk@ukb.uni-bonn.de
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D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005858:Germany; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013663:Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014572:Urology / Q000193:education* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
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