The impact of formal education and training on urodynamic practice in the United Kingdom: a survey

AIM: A previous survey of personnel performing urodynamics had shown that half of the respondents thought that their training had been inadequate. In order to address this the outcome of a 4-day practical course for teaching urodynamics, which has been running since 1995 at the Bristol Urological Institute, was reviewed. We were not aware of any published studies that have assessed the impact of formal urodynamic training on clinical practice. With this in mind we set out to determine whether the education and training we had given had changed urodynamic practice in the UK. METHODS: Postal questionnaires were sent out to 84 delegates who had attended the course over a 2-year period (2001-2003). Paired questionnaires were used to assess urodynamic practice before and after the course and also to establish whether their practice had changed as a direct result of attending the certificate course. RESULTS: The results suggested that 79% of those responders had changed their practice since completing the course. Significant changes to practice were observed in checking calibration, confidence in setting-up equipment, interpretation of urodynamic traces and ability to check the accuracy of the results. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this survey suggest that attendance at a recognised urodynamic training course has had an impact on clinical practice in the UK. Training and education raises the level of confidence and ability to perform and interpret urodynamic investigations, which has wide implications for the accuracy, reliability and consistency of urodynamic investigations performed by those without formal training.