The effects of COVID-19 on American healthcare are irreversible. Disruptions in patient care and medical education resulted from policy shifts in the healthcare and hospital sectors. The effect on urology residency programs in the United States is little understood. The purpose was to analyze changes in urological procedures during the COVID-19 epidemic, as recorded in resident case diaries submitted to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Between July 2015 and June 2021, the case records of urology residents were reviewed retrospectively. Linear regression was used to examine the average number of cases under several different models that made various assumptions about the effect of COVID-19 on practice in 2020 and beyond. Models assuming the impact of disruptions due to COVID was limited to 2019-2020 fared better in the analysis. According to data analysis, the number of urological cases was on the rise. The average number of procedures was expected to rise by 26 every year from 2016 to 2021, except for 2020, when it was expected to fall by an average of 67. The number of cases grew considerably in 2021, though, reaching the rate that would have been expected if the disruption in 2020 hadn’t occurred. A breakdown of the 2020 decline by kind of urological operation showed that the extent of the decline varied considerably between procedures. It appears that urology volume has recovered and even expanded since the global epidemic caused major disruptions in surgical services. The rising demand for urological services across the country demonstrates the field’s importance and the breadth of the problem it addresses.
Source: auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/UPJ.0000000000000317
