Objectives: We aimed to reveal how four different areas that are important in the functioning of the urology clinic (outpatient clinic, inpatient clinic, operating room, and consultations) were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Patients admitted to the surgical branches between March 11, 2018 and March 10, 2021 were retrospectively evaluated in terms of their demographic data. The data between these dates were analyzed by dividing the patients into three groups as Groups A, B, and C for the pandemic period, the year before the pandemic, and two years before the pandemic, respectively. Results: A total of 1,222,967 patients were included in the study. During the pandemic period, the number of urology outpatient clinic admissions decreased by more than half compared to the previous years (37,471, 93,582, and 89,031 for Groups A, B, and C, respectively). Admissions to the urology inpatient clinic decreased both numerically and proportionally when compared to the other surgical branches (1,301 [5.1%] for Group A, 3,884 [7.7%] for Group B, and 3,761 [7.7%] for Group C]). While the mortality rate did not change proportionally in the urology clinic in all groups (0.3%), it increased both numerically and proportionally in all surgical branches (339 [1.3%], 304 [0.6%], and 256 [0.5%]). Conclusions: Admissions to the urology clinic were determined to have decreased during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, especially due to restriction measures taken by countries and concerns about the unknowns of the disease. As a result of this decrease, the number of operations and the number of hospitalized patients were also reduced. Although the mortality rate was not affected in the short-term follow-up of patients, long-term outcomes remain uncertain.
Objective: This study aimed to reveal how surgical clinics were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic based on concrete data. Method: In this study, the outpatient clinics of surgical branches were examined in terms of the number of presenting patients, number of visits, patient age, number of patient revisits, number of appointments made, patients’ time of arrival for their appointments, patient throughput times, number of patients that underwent surgery, and number of surgical operations performed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: During the first year of the pandemic, concerning the number of presenting patients and number of visits, the most affected outpatient clinic was otorhinolaryngology and the least affected was gynecology and obstetrics. It was determined that the highest decrease in the mean age of patients presenting to outpatient clinics was in urology, and the lowest decrease in pediatric surgery. The patients who were the earliest to arrive for their appointments to undergo examinations were those that presented to the cardiovascular surgery clinic, while pediatric surgery patients arrived at the hospital closest to their appointment times. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of patients that underwent surgery decreased by 53% and the operations performed by 55% compared to the previous year. Conclusion: With the effect of the pandemic, there was a decrease in the number of patients that presented to the outpatient clinics of surgical branches, number of visits to these clinics, appointments made, repeated visits, patients that underwent surgery, number of operations performed, and mean age of patients.
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