The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist 2007;9:4:286-287
doi: 10.1576/toag.9.4.286.27367
Copyright © 2007 by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
@ TOG
Katharine Edey, MRCOG, Specialist Registrar1,
Sonia Barnfield, MRCOG, Specialist Registrar2 and
Stephen Keay, MD FRCOG (Website Reviews Editor), Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist3
1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Gloucester Royal Hospital, Great Western Road, Gloucester GL1 3NN, UK Email: katharineedey{at}hotmail.com (corresponding author)
2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Southmead Hospital, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol BS10 5NB, UK
3. Warwick Medical School and Centre for Reproductive Medicine, University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry CV2 2DX, UK
In this issue of @ TOG we turn to urology. There is a significant overlap between urology and gynaecology; exchange of information between specialties is often useful. With regard to obstetrics, knowledge of neonatal and paediatric urology can be useful when counselling women where there is a diagnosis of renal tract abnormality. We review a variety of websites, from those providing information to women to those belonging to urology associations.
www.urosource.com
The tagline of this website is ‘Bridging the gap between Science & Practice’. In the centre of the well-designed homepage there are new abstracts from the most recently published urology papers; for example, the review from Reid and Smith of laparoscopic versus open colposuspension. The list of topics on the lefthand column links to key articles, conference reports, guidelines and expert reviews pertinent to the topic; for example, bladder cancer or urinary tract infection. Included on the website is a book review section. There are also links to the European Association of Urology. The website is easy to use and the information provided accessible and relevant to clinicians. The layout of the homepage will be redesigned in the near future.
www.urologyhealth.org/
This is a patient information website set up by the American Urological Association. The homepage is basic and on entering the site information is divided into adult and paediatric conditions. The list of topics is huge: from vaginal agenesis to skin disorders, bladder cancer and trauma. The patient information is of good quality and can be printed easily. Each information sheet has links to medical drawings, which are clear and well labelled and would be a useful resource in clinics. Each sheet also contains links to clinical trials but they take you off-site and do not appear particularly relevant. In general, the patient information is well written and the variety of information is impressive.
www.gla.ac.uk/departments/clinicalphysics/urodynamics
This website has been created by Doug Small from Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. It is an information site about urodynamics and covers the whole topic, beginning with male and female anatomy, through neurological control to detailed information about the different components of urodynamics. There is information regarding the correct terminology from the International Continence Society (ICS) and this can be downloaded in PDF format by a link to the ICS website. We found this website to be well set out and informative. We think it would be particularly useful for trainees when completing Module 18 of the new logbook: Urogynaecology and Pelvic floor Problems.
www.urologychannel.com
Again, this is aimed at providing patient education. It is run by a commercial company (Healthcommunities.com), which also provides 23 other healthcare channels. The homepage is very ‘busy’, with many advertisements; this makes it difficult to use. It covers a wide variety of topics, from bladder cancer and control, through to information on diagnostic tests. We found the most useful section to be that on paediatric urology, which has a broad range of information, discussing in utero hydronephrosis, multicystic kidneys and urinary tract obstruction, all of which can be relevant to the obstetrician. There are a variety of other sections on the website, including a ‘living-with’ section for patients to describe their experiences. There are also links to information about common investigations such as CT scanning and cystoscopy. In general, we did not enjoy using the site because of the large amount of advertising and extra links but some of the information provided would be useful for women.
www.uroweb.org
This website belongs to the European Association of Urology and is mainly for the use of members. European guidelines are available, but only if you are a member or you pay to download them. There are links to conference information. Abstracts from recent conferences can be viewed directly through the website free of charge. There are links to all of the national associations of urology and many urology journals, but, effectively, there is not much information to be gained from the website for those who are not members of the Association.
