Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

The past, present and future of women in the United States urological workforce

Nature Reviews Urology (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Women urologists constitute an increasing proportion of the urology workforce in the United States. Considering the projected shortage of urologists over the coming decades, women urologists will have a crucial role in the delivery of urological care. Opportunities for recruitment and retention of women in the field of urology must be highlighted.

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which limits funding, and caps the number of government-subsidized residency positions, is a major contributor to the surgeon workforce shortage in the United States. This shortage is further exacerbated in urology for two reasons: first, practising urologists are the second oldest surgical subspecialists, with a median age of 55 years (AUA priority: address the urologic workforce shortage); and second, by 2030, 1 of 5 Americans will be ≥65 years old, and the population of Medicare (a US health insurance programme for people aged >65 years) is known to disproportionately utilize urological services1. Thus, the American Urological Association (AUA) has recognized the severity of the impending urological workforce shortage as a federal advocacy priority (AUA priority: address the urologic workforce shortage).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Nam, C. S., Daignault-Newton, S., Kraft, K. H. & Herrel, L. A. Projected US urology workforce per capita, 2020-2060. JAMA Netw. Open https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.33864 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Malik, R. D. & Salles, A. Debunking four common gender equity myths. Eur. Urol. 81, 552–554 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Halpern, J. A. et al. Women in urology residency, 1978-2013: a critical look at gender representation in our specialty. Urology 92, 20–25 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Holton, M. R. & Bailey, K. Women in urology. Urol. Clin. North Am. 48, 187–194 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. American Urological Association. The American Urological Association Releases 2021 AUA Census Results. AUA https://auanet.mediaroom.com/2022-04-12-The-American-Urological-Association-Releases-2021-AUA-Census-Results (2022).

  6. Wong, D. et al. Assessing the female and underrepresented minority medical student experience in the urology match: where do we fall short? Urology 147, 57–63 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Rangel, E. L. et al. Incidence of infertility and pregnancy complications in US female surgeons. JAMA Surg. 156, 905–915 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Spencer, E. S. et al. Gender differences in compensation, job satisfaction and other practice patterns in urology. J. Urol. 195, 450–455 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Vollstedt, A., Hougen, H. Y., Gupta, P., Johans, C. & Baldea, K. G. Gender-based pay gap in urology: a review of the literature and potential solutions. Urology 168, 21–26 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Catherine S. Nam

  2. Department of Urology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Amy N. Luckenbaugh

  3. Department of Urology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Akanksha Mehta

Authors
  1. Catherine S. Nam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Amy N. Luckenbaugh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Akanksha Mehta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akanksha Mehta.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Related links

AUA priority: address the urologic workforce shortage: https://www.auanet.org/advocacy/federal-advocacy/workforce-shortages

SWIUdents: https://swiu.org/membership/membership-categories.aspx

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nam, C.S., Luckenbaugh, A.N. & Mehta, A. The past, present and future of women in the United States urological workforce. Nat Rev Urol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-023-00744-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-023-00744-z

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing