Urology Fellowship: Second Year

The second year is a dedicated clinical experience, exposing the fellow to clinical management of pediatric urology patients and honing both surgical skills and decision-making. Fellows gain clinical exposure at Lurie Children’s Hospital, a 312-licensed-bed facility. The Pediatric Urology division is responsible for 15,000 clinic visits and more than 2,000 surgical cases each year. The fellows are involved in patient care in both inpatient and outpatient settings and the fellow can expect to progress in independence throughout the clinical year. The aim of this fellowship year is to send forth competent and compassionate academic pediatric urologists.

Learning Environment

The clinical fellow participates primarily in all aspects of the operating room and in the care of inpatients, but is also encouraged to engage in outpatient clinics.

Operating Room

The fellow experiences a large volume of surgical opportunities that include general pediatric urology, complex hypospadias, complex urinary and genital reconstruction, laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgery and endoscopic stone management. The number of surgeries is expected to total roughly 600 cases.

Inpatient Service

To foster leadership skills and maintain consistency of care for the inpatients, the clinical fellow has primary responsibility for the inpatient urology service. Quality care, safety and education are our top priorities and the fellow is a primary and valued resource for the rotating residents. In addition to the fellow, the urology service is composed of a dedicated full-time inpatient APP and rotating residents from Northwestern, Loyola, University of Illinois at Chicago, Rush and Franciscan Health.   
 
The clinical fellow provides twice weekly back-up call for the on-call resident. ACGME work-hour restrictions are observed. 

Outpatient Clinics

The clinical fellow is expected to participate in a weekly half-day clinic experience, which is under the supervision of an attending. This includes a monthly fellow clinic where the fellow works one on one with the program director to gain experience and receive feedback on clinical skills as well as to assure compliance with and understanding of billing and coding. Additional outpatient participation is strongly encouraged as graduation to independent practice nears. Multidisciplinary programs are available to the fellow including Spina Bifida, DSD and Gender Program, Pediatric Fertility Preservation, Fetal Health, Bladder Function Improvement Program, Vascular Malformations, Transitional Care to Adulthood, Transgender Care and Gender-Affirmation Surgery.