Vasectomy Course For Physicians After Residency
October 17, 2022
Finding a vasectomy course for physicians after residency is next to impossible. There are a few options out there but it is difficult to find a training course that will provide you with hands on experience.
You may be able to find a doctor who will allow you to do, or mostly likely only watch, some vasectomy procedures. Will you really feel comfortable offering vasectomy in YOUR office after doing a small number of cases?
Vasectomy is a very EASY procedure to perform (with the right training) but it is also a very HARD procedure to learn.
Many physicians will ‘watch a few’ and ‘do a few’ only to go back to their office and have a very difficult time. They will have procedures they can’t complete and maybe some large hematomas. Some may be in the vasectomy procedure room for 45 minutes or more! Many may decide offering vasectomy is not worth the personal stress.
With the proper training you do not have to have a stressful time implementing vasectomy into your practice.
Dr. Charles Monteith is offering a vasectomy course for physicians after residency at his practice His Choice Vasectomy in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Why do you need good vasectomy training?
Most, if not all, vasectomy training occurs in residency. Most vasectomies are taught in Urology departments and most procedures are performed by Urology residents. Of course other physicians, general surgeon and family medicine residents, will rotate through these departments but these doctors will perform even a lower number vasectomies than the urology residents. A family medicine resident may be there for 2 to 4 weeks in three years… but a urology resident will be there every year of their residency training.
If you are reading this and thinking, “Family medicine training programs offer training to residents.” Well…not exactly.
On paper family medicine residency do offer vasectomy training but in practice….most do not.
A 2019 survey study of Family Medicine Residency Programs revealed fewer than 10% of surveyed family medicine residency programs offer adequate vasectomy procedural training.
If only 10% of family medicine residencies offer training in vasectomy then why would we expect many family medicine doctors to actually feel comfortable providing vasectomy?
Are you one of the lucky few to have learned vasectomy?
If you are one of the lucky few who may have attended one of the few residencies that offered training in vasectomy then you will likely find when you get out in the real world you will not be providing vasectomy. Why?
In the real world you may join a University or large health care organization who will tell you… “We refer all of our vasectomies to our own Urology guys. So don’t even think about trying to do vasectomy in our system.”
In the real world you may join a small group of doctors who are familiar with vasectomy procedures but really don’t want to offer the service. Your group is not going to be keen on you offering vasectomy and causing complications that they either have to manage or assume increased medical legal liability.
In the real world you may join a group that is very supportive of you doing vasectomy in the office… but you will not do that many, you are going to block off a good chunk of time to do a single vasectomy procedure, and you are not going to be very efficient with your time. It will not be worth the added stress and may actually cause you to lose revenue because of decreased efficiency. It will not be time well spent for you or your staff.
Real world vasectomy problems right here in the US
In most of the developed world, primary care doctors provide most of the vasectomy procedures. This is true in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
In the United States most vasectomy procedures are provided by Urologist. Is this a problem? Yes. This is a problem.
A 2021 survey of urology training physicians revealed they were significantly less comfortable performing vasectomy in the office setting versus in the operating room. They blamed low numbers of vasectomy training cases and a lack of autonomy as barriers to their vasectomy training.
Improving resident learning on vasectomy: a national survey on urology resident vasectomy training
Most vasectomy training happens in Urology departments. Most vasectomy providers in the US are Urologist. According to the 2021 survey, most newly trained Urologist are uncomfortable providing vasectomy in an office setting. They blame, in part, the low numbers of vasectomy training cases in residency training for this uneasiness.
Makes you wonder who is doing all the vasectomies if the urology residents are not doing them? Urology mid-level providers…attendings… or maybe they really are not doing that many at all?
What do you think happens in the real world when a urologist does not feel comfortable with office based procedures? Many of these urologist will only feel more comfortable taking patients to the operating room for vasectomy.
Going to the operating room for a vasectomy is a big production and really increases the cost of the procedure.
Some men may love the concept of ‘going to sleep’ for their vasectomy procedure until they get the hospital bill six weeks after their vasectomy under general anesthesia. Some men are turned off by having to go to the operating room and won’t get a vasectomy…many will not even be able to afford the procedure.
If a urologist is in independent practice or part of a small group and the vasectomies are done in the office…sometimes vasectomy procedures will be grouped on every Friday of the week…or perhaps 1 or 2 Fridays of the month. This causes an unnecessary barrier to vasectomy access for patients. If the urologist gets called away because of an emergency then all those patients will get cancelled or rescheduled.
The reality is our current system of training is not sufficient to provide the demand for vasectomies in our growing population. By limiting vasectomy provision to urologist we are greatly limiting access to vasectomy and creating a barrier to accessing vasectomy.
We need more primary care providers who can do vasectomy and do vasectomy well.
Vasectomy course with Dr Monteith
Dr. Monteith is an Ob/Gyn who realized the importance of vasectomy to women’s health. Early in his career he sought additional mentorship to provide vasectomy. Since learning the procedure he has performed over 7,000 no scalpel vasectomies from 2008 to 2022.
In 2022 the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade with the Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. As a result of this decision, Dr. Monteith decided to offer a vasectomy course for primary care physicians.
The goal of the vasectomy course is to increase the number of physicians who are providing high quality barrier free minimally invasive vasectomy. This course is not for all physicians.
If you just want to learn vasectomy but have no plan on implementing vasectomy then this course is not for you. If you just want to learn vasectomy and do a few procedures ‘here and there’ then this course is not for you.
Best candidates for Dr Monteith’s vasectomy training course
The best candidates for this vasectomy course are doctors who are seriously motivated to provide high quality vasectomy.
You cannot be a good provider of vasectomy if you are only doing a few vasectomy procedures a month. You really need to be able to dedicate your time every week to providing vasectomy to be both good and efficient.
There are many benefits to dedicating your time to providing vasectomy but there are three main benefits you should focus on:
- Increasing the availability of vasectomy access for men and couples
- Increasing your career satisfaction and your patient’s satisfaction
- Increasing your office revenue
If you are a US physician and would like to learn to provide high volume, high quality barrier free minimally invasive vasectomy and would like more information then visit: Vasectomy training with Dr Monteith
Patients are in need of high quality vasectomy providers. It is possible to develop a thriving practice that is either mostly or all vasectomy based.
If you are willing to commit to training and provision of vasectomy then it will be well worth your efforts!
