Incidence and predictors of delays in starting fellowship training in urology.

Introduction: The completion of residency and start of fellowship training marks a critical transition for urologists in the pursuit of subspeciality training. Most graduating urology residents are under contract until June 30, and most fellowships are scheduled to begin on July 1. There has been no investigation into the practical implications of fellowship delays in urology from a trainee perspective.

Understanding failures in getting it up: The prevalence and predictors of failed ureteral access in ureteroscopy.

Introduction: Failed access ureteroscopy (FA) describes the inability to gain adequate access to a stone to allow for treatment. The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of, and factors predicting FA in patients presenting with renal and ureteral stones.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of all ureteroscopy (URS) procedures performed for renal and ureteral stones by three endourologists over a six-month period at our center.

The association between rurality and return to work for workers' compensation claimants with work-related musculoskeletal injuries: An analysis of workers who failed to return to work within typical healing time frames.

Objectives: The objectives of this study have been to: 1) describe and compare urban and rural injured worker populations in Alberta, Canada; 2) identify return-to-work outcomes in urban and rural populations; 3) examine the relationship between geographic location of residence and recovery from work-related musculoskeletal injury; and 4) investigate if this relationship is attenuated after controlling for other known risk factors.

Material And Methods: This study was a secondary analysis utilizing data of a population of musculoskeletal injury claimants who underwent clinical/RTW (return to work) assessment between December 2009 and January 2011 collected by the Workers' Compensation Board of Alberta. Descriptive statistics were computed for 32 variables and used for comparing urban and rural workers.