A note to FYs and CTs
”To all the FYs and CTs - I can assure you UroRef was built by a similarly troubled soul.”
UroRef was not built by someone pretending medicine is simple.
It was built by someone who remembers very clearly what it feels like when your brain goes blank at exactly the wrong moment.
Sometimes your brain just freezes.
I still remember being an SHO on urology on call and getting caught on things that, in hindsight, sound small. One of those was wondering what on earth people meant by a coudé tip catheter versus a regular catheter.
It was not always the glamorous or high-level stuff that got you. Often, it was the practical details - the things everyone else seemed to mention so casually, as if you were simply expected to know them already.
And that is really the point.
The On-Call Fog Is Real
A lot of the time, the problem on call is not that the information does not exist. It is that your brain is busy doing ten other things at once.
You are juggling referrals, bleeps, ward problems, sick patients, time pressure, and the constant low-level worry that you might miss something important.
In that setting, even simple things can feel strangely difficult to retrieve. Not because you are incapable.
The on-call fog is real.
You are not calmly sitting there thinking, “Let me search for that stone probability calculator I once heard mentioned on a ward round.” You are thinking: I need the answer quickly, safely, and with as little friction as possible.
That is where UroRef came from.
What It Is - and What It Isn’t
Not from trying to invent new knowledge, and not from pretending that I created the underlying science or guidance.
The content in UroRef is based on guidelines, resources, textbooks, lectures, and personal notes collected over time. Most of that material already exists and is available online in one form or another.
The only part I would say is more personally mine is that some of the operation note structure and parts of the on-call documentation were mainly built from my own notes and working style.
Beyond that, the information itself belongs to the wider body of medical learning that we all draw from.
So if the information is already out there - why build UroRef?
Because Friction Is the Real Problem
In real life, on call, nobody has the time or mental capacity to think “Let me go to this website,” or “Let me Google that,” or even “Let me ask AI this.”
There is simply too much friction. And when there is too much friction, even good resources become underused.
The number of clicks matters more than people realise.
A resource is not only useful because the content is correct. It is useful because you can get to it quickly, clearly, and with minimal effort when you actually need it.
In pressured environments, convenience is not a luxury - it is part of safety, usability, and good design.
With some background in JavaScript and React, I started building a small functional tool for myself. At first it was just that - a little tool that helped me during on-call work.
Over time, I kept shaping it, improving it, and getting feedback from trainees and trainers. Slowly, it became something a bit more polished and hopefully more useful for others too.
What Makes It Useful
What makes UroRef useful, I think, is not that it is full of secret knowledge. It is that it tries to bring together the practical bits you actually need, in one place, with as little friction as possible.
It is built around the reality of clinical work, not the fantasy of unlimited time and perfect recall.
UroRef was developed by someone who has felt that same uncertainty, that same overload, and that same on-call fog. A similarly troubled soul, if you like.
It is not here to replace clinical judgement, local guidance, senior advice, or formal protocols. It is simply here to make useful information easier to reach in the moments when your brain is already stretched thin.
If it helps make even one on-call shift a little easier, a little quicker, or a little less overwhelming, then it has done its job.
I hope you find it useful.
Built during training. Still evolving.