Nation‐wide analysis of the impact of Covid‐19 pandemic on daily urology practice in Turkey

Abstract

Objective To present a nation‐wide analysis of the workload of urology departments in Turkey week‐by‐week during Covid‐19 pandemic. Methodology The centers participating in the study were divided into three groups as tertiary referral centers, state hospitals and private practice hospitals. The number of outpatients, inpatients, daily interventions and urological surgeries were recorded prospectively between 9‐March‐2020 and 31‐May‐2020. All these variables were recorded for the same time interval of 2019 as well. The weekly change of the workload of urology during pandemic period was evaluated; also the workload of urology and the distributions of certain urological surgeries were compared between the pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019. Results A total of 51 centers participated in the study. The number of outpatients, inpatients, urological surgeries and daily interventions were found to be dramatically decreased by the third week of pandemics in state hospitals and tertiary referral centers; however the daily urological practice were similar in private practice hospitals throughout the pandemic period. When the workload of urology in pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019 were compared; a huge decrease was observed in all variables during pandemic period. However, temporary measures like ureteral stenting, nephrostomy placement and percutaneous cystostomy have been found to increase during Covid‐19 pandemic compared to normal life. Conclusions Covid‐19 pandemic significantly effected the routine daily urological practice likewise other subspecialties and priority was given to emergent and non‐deferrable surgeries by urologists in concordance with published clinical guidelines.

Comparative assessment of patients' admission to urology departments during and before the COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective cohort study

“…Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a remarkable reduction of up to 50% in uro-oncological cases in Europe. In a multicenter study conducted in our country during the pandemic period, a decrease of up to 80% in oncology cases was reported compared to the pre-pandemic period, which was parallel to Europe and the World (21). In this study, by the literature, significant decreases were observed in urooncological cases in both secondary and tertiary hospitals compared to the pandemic period.…”

How did the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic affect urology practice in Arab countries? A cross-sectional study by the Arab Association of Urology research group

“…Elective cases which might require ICU admission were postponed and >55% were operated only if high risk such as obstructing stones and oncology cases (Figure 1). Similarly, in a study by Bozkurt et al, 12 COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed urological practice in Turkey hospitals as priority was given to emergency cases and surgeries which if deferred the course of the disease would affect patient's life. The results of a study recruiting eight academic urological departments in Paris were congruent with our findings where there was a decrease in urological procedures by an overall of 55% in the first year of COVID-19 {oncology surgeries (31%), emergency surgery (44%), reconstructive surgery (85%) and andrology surgery (81%)}.…”

Effects of first year COVID-19 pandemic on urology practice in three major Arab Countries: Sub-Analysis of a survey by Arab association of urology research group

“…The workload of hospitals has increased considerably, and governments and hospital systems have taken many healthcare measures to adapt to this load. Many hospitals had to turn to quarantine to serve only COVID-19 patients [ 1 , 2 ].…”

“…Most surgical subspecialties canceled elective surgeries and served only emergency and non-deferrable oncologic surgeries. Social distancing became mandatory in the clinics, and the number of appointments was limited for urgent cases [ 1 ]. In some centers, clinics were prioritized, and non-urgent patients were consulted over Telemedia and postponed for at least six months.…”