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i got a topic for discussion. 6 year programs with one year of basic science research. if you're going to be academic anyways, you're going to do a fellowship which likely includes basic science research, so whats the point? discuss.

I agree with the above posting on some level, but in the end like all things, research year = money. I think it has less to do with supply and demand.

Are there any programs out there that have a year or more of research time that have little or no endowment or grant funding? No.
Programs that have heavy grant funding, and large research budgets need warm bodies to man the labs and generate papers and spend those grants in order to justify renewed applications, and additional grants and research fund acquisition in general. Programs that have less grant funding and less money in general, are more apt to have little or no protected research time.

It just so happens that the programs with longer programs and dedicated research years happen to be "bigger names" with bigger collections of resources devoted to funding acquisition, and a larger physical plant and human resource pools. In order to support the institutional bulk and maintain a "big name", additional funding must be found yearly, and in order to acquire funds there must be justification for disbursement. This equals adequate supply of cheap labor to work in the institution and perform the research funded by the local, state, federal, and possibly private funds. When the funding begins to dry up, programs seek to transition to shorter non-protected research-type programs, as funding residents for research years becomes a financial liability since funding for salaries and other resident support is different for residents not involved in regular patient care activities.

I think it has more to do with simple institutional economics than resident education. The bottom line is always green.

Anyone else have thoughts?

Okay, here's a controversial topic up for heated discussion.
The world of urology is currently in flux with some suggesting that urology as we know it will be gone soon. Essentially the end of the urologist as medical and surgical practitioner, with separation of medical and surgical urology, etc...
I think they are right, things are probably coming to an end soon.

So I looked around for a sign of times to come, and found one.

The ancient Maya predict the end of the world as 12-21-2012 (just after Obama gets re-elected, and he will probably be a main contributor to the "end" of time). On the AUA site, there is clearly a picuture of a Mayan face outlined in the sleeve of a surgeon on the top banner bar. This clearly indicates that the end of the Mayan calendar actually predicts the end of urology, spurred on by continual democratic rule and re-election. No urologists will want to work, for fear of breaking into the >$250K tax bracket (pushed through by 2012) and losing 50% or more of their income. And by that time, social programs will be so entrenched that everyone will make 200K or so, plus food stamps of course, just for sitting on our asses doing nothing, plus we'll all have the same free healthcare programs that the senators do, as he promised on the campaign trail. Plus, medicare will be on the edge of insolvency, so they won't be paying any claims. So urology will officially end. December 21, 2012. The end of the urology world.
here's picture proof of the mayan effigy for comparison, with AUA site photo as inset.

The evidence is indisputable.