Abstract:
The authors provide a municipal, regional and population-based distribution map of urologists in Brazil based on quantitative data, focusing on the need to create social criteria to train new urologists in the country. The study involved two survey at different times and with distinct (albeit congruent) purposes, conducted by different teams and institutions of diverse natures. The first drew on the “Profile of Brazilian Physicians” (including 2,406 urologists) conducted in 1995 by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) in partnership with the Federal Board of Medicine, Brazilian Medical Association, and National Federation of Physicians. The second, titled “How Many Are We and What Do We Need?”, was conducted in 1997 by the Teaching and Training Committee of the Brazilian Society of Urology (SBU) and encompassed a universe of 2,966 specialists registered in the SBU database. Brazilian urologists are young (mean age of 43 years), have held a degree in urology for 17 years, have fellowship in urology (91.3%), and live in the large Brazilian State capitals (eight of which account for 43.5% of all urologists practice in the Southeast (61.6%) and South (17.8%). Brazil has one urologist per 52,960 inhabitants, with a heterogeneous distribution: 5 times more urologists in the Southeast then in the Northeast (1:33,943 and 1:161,037, respectively). About 30% of Brazilian urologists do not belong to the SBU. The country´s training capacity is 130 new urologists per year (average of two per residence program), amounting to at least twice as many as needed to saturate the system. In conclusion, the number of urologists is growing at least twice as fast as the population, leading to over-saturation of the specialty in Central and Southern Brazilian State capitals, while failing to solve the problem of lack of urologists in other regions of the country.
Key-words:
Urology - Manpower; Physician distribution - supply and distribution; Medical residency - Brazil
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