Who, what, where and when to treat!

Just as all stones are not created equally, not all Urologists are trained the same! One should know that in 2013 there were 29,171 first-year residency positions offered to graduating medical students [1] and that there are only 239 urology resident spots each year. This number accounts for only 0.82 % of graduating medical students who go on to do a urology residency. With the few number of urology residencies, typically in university programs, urologists are general well trained. They are trained to do general urology after completing 1–2 years of general surgery and 3–4 years of urology residency. If a graduating urology resident wants to pursue further training in a particular subspecialty of urology, then they would pursue a fellowship. The fellowship for stone disease is an Endourology fellowship. In summary, a Urologist who has been training longer will generally have greater experience.