Trends in urological manpower in the United States in 1986.

Estimated urological manpower needs for the United States are reviewed and correlated with the nationwide urological work load. In addition, a limited attempt is made to assess the ideal urological work load. On the basis of this study a decrease in the production of urologists appears to be less necessary than has been proposed to date. If the present trend of increasing the length of urology residency training to 2 pre-urology years plus 4 years of urology continues, and if the influx of foreign trained graduates continues to decrease the problem of overproduction of urological specialists may be solved, since these 2 measures by themselves would reduce the annual certification in the United States to about 280 diplomates, which is 20 less than the estimated annual attrition of 300 practicing urologists. The 8,236 urologists in the United States counted by the American Medical Association in 1983 performed an average of 204 hospital procedures each, including 43 transurethral prostatic resections. The average load per urologist seems to be adequate to maintain diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical skills.