Establishing the Southwest Catheter Skills Course – a closed loop quality improvement project

The General Medical Council states that foundation year doctors should be able to carry out male and female urethral catheterisation safely under direct supervision [1]. A 2014 survey of medical students demonstrated that 40% and 64% had never performed male...

BAUS Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Day 1 Toni Huw Mihailidis and Mriganka Mani Sinha Another year and another brilliant meeting in which urologists from the UK and around the globe assembled for a highly entertaining event. Day one kicked off with a topical and ever-pervasive...

From overseas to the UK: initial impressions

A few years ago we published stories from three international medical graduates detailing their experience of working as registrars in the UK (https://www.urologynews.uk.com/education/trainees-forum/post/initial-impressions-of-urology-in-the-uk-from-overseas-trainees). Here are three new countries and three new opinions. Dinelle Sirjuesingh, Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago...

Shared decision-making – minimising the mismatch

In Western countries, we are spoilt for choice in almost every aspect of our lives, but does that reflect also in healthcare? While we have taken some big strides towards shared decision-making with our patients, the age-old physician dominance remains...

Systematic reviews and meta-analysis – a stepwise approach

As per Cochrane definition (2013), a systematic literature review (SR) attempts “to identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a given research question” [1]. A meta-analysis (MA) is a statistical assessment of...

Delivering a trainee-led Urolink educational programme – my experience in Tanzania

In May 2023, I travelled to Moshi, Tanzania, where I visited Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) – a trip which was made possible through the collaborative efforts of the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) Urolink and with the support...

Urology National Selection: tips and tricks for a successful interview process

We invited Dominic Brown, the top-ranking candidate from the Urology National Training Selection Interview 2023, to share his wisdom on the interview process. Dominic is currently an ST3 working in North West London. Kelly Ong, Urology News Trainees Sub-Editor. 1....

Urology around the world: India: past, present, and future

Past India has the largest population in the world, standing at 1.43 billion as of September 2023. This vast population across a huge geographical area brings unique healthcare challenges, including the full range of urologic conditions. Urology is a relatively...

Bladder Health UK

- CHARITY FOCUS - Bladder Health UK is a national patient support charity that has been communicating with bladder illness sufferers for 30 years. The charity offers a lot of resources to give help, educate and inform, including webinars, study...

New techniques in UTI diagnosis

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common reason for seeking medical care in both primary and secondary settings. Half of women will have at least one episode of cystitis in their lifetime, and a third of them will have experienced...

The impact of menopause on bladder symptoms

The menopause is a natural process of ageing when the ovaries completely stop producing reproductive hormones (oestrogen and other sex steroids), and there are no monthly periods for 12 consecutive months. It normally occurs between the ages of 45-55 years...

Botulinum toxin – from the sausage poison to urology

Botulinum toxin is the first biological toxin to be licensed for use in treating human disease and since its first therapeutic use in the early 1980s for strabismus has become widely used in the fields of ophthalmology, cosmetic surgery, migraine...