Roles, Responsibilities and Patient Care Activities

Residents are physicians in training. They learn the skills necessary for their chosen specialty through didactic sessions, reading and providing patient care under the supervision of the Medical Staff (attendings) and senior trainees. As part of their training program, residents are given progressively greater responsibility according to their level of education, ability and experience.

Responsibilities and Patient Care Activities

Residents are part of a team of providers caring for patients. The team includes an attending and may include other licensed independent practitioners, other trainees and medical students. Residents may provide care in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. They may serve on a team providing direct patient care, or may be part of a team providing consultative or diagnostic services. Each member of the team is dedicated to providing excellent patient care. Each member of the team should clearly understand their role in order to provide professional and compassionate care to patients.

The specific role of each resident varies with his/her clinical rotation, experience, years of clinical training, the patient’s illness, and the clinical demands placed on the team. All residents help provide for the educational needs and supervision of any junior residents and medical students.

Urology residents undergo 18 months of General Surgery training before beginning their Urologic training.

PGY 2-3

These residents provide care for patients on the Urology services. They may work with –or in some situations, lead the Urologic Surgical team in providing care for patients in the inpatient setting (including ICU), outpatient settings and the emergency department. They may provide consultative services, as well. All services are provided with the supervision of an attending physician.

Research Residents (PGY 4)

Research residents actually begin to design their 4th year during their PGY-3 year by planning their project(s) with a mentor and research sponsor. These residents also decide their course of study by selecting to go to Africa to experience third world medicine, or take a month to rotate through the transplantation service.

Senior and Chief Residents (PGY 5 – 6)

Chief residents are in their final year of clinical training. They may have inpatient and/or outpatient responsibilities. They supervise and coordinate the teaching of junior residents and medical students. They work under the direction of the attendings and in close coordination with the Program Director and Program Delegates to achieve common educational goals and improve the resident’s training. Program Delegates are available at each of the 5 hospitals in the UWMC hospital consortium as extensions of the Program Director and have local responsibility for the residents.

Resident Review And Promotion Process

The Urology Department of the University of Washington is committed to improving the quality of graduate medical education and clinical experiences for our urology residents. In order to achieve these goals, the 6 core Competencies have been incorporated into the program. The 6 Competencies are: Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Interpersonal and Communication Skills, Professionalism, System Based Practice, and Practice Based Learning and Improvement. (Definitions are available in detail at the ACGME web site (www.acgme.org.) All residents are encouraged to review the core competencies, as each resident is responsible for knowing how they will be evaluated and promoted.

The urology residency program at the University of Washington uses a multifaceted assessment process to determine a resident's progressive involvement and independence in providing patient care. Residents are observed directly by the attending staff and their performance is discussed regularly. Formal assessments are generally obtained every three months from supervising physicians, nursing and other staff, and peers. Annually, the whole faculty make a summative determination as to the trainees competency and the qualifications necessary to be promoted to the next level.

The University of Washington Department of Urology has established new online resident evaluation forms, according to the 6 core competencies required by the ACGME. These evaluation forms were designed to represent common areas taught in the field of General Urology. They are to be used by various people at the 5 hospitals in the consortium of UW training hospitals.

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