Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021;74(1):121-127.
doi: 10.5173/ceju.2021.0278.R1. Epub 2021 Jan 9.

How the COVID-19 pandemic changed urology residency - a nationwide survey from the Portuguese resident's perspective

Bernardo Lobão Teixeira  1 , João Cabral  1 , Gonçalo Mendes  1 , Mariana Madanelo  1 , Maria Alexandra Rocha  1 , Sofia Mesquita  1 , Jorge Correia  1 , Catarina Tavares  1 , André Marques-Pinto  1 , Avelino Fraga  1
Affiliations

How the COVID-19 pandemic changed urology residency - a nationwide survey from the Portuguese resident's perspective

Bernardo Lobão Teixeira et al. Cent European J Urol. 2021.

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this article was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urology residency.

Material and methods: A 30 question online survey was sent to all urology residents in Portugal between the 25th of April and the 25th of May 2020. Reduction in different areas of clinical activity during the COVID-19 period were evaluated and their perceived impact on their residency program was quantified.

Results: Forty-three (54.4%) Portuguese urology residents responded to our inquiry. Eighty-one percent report having supressed their activity by more than 75% in the outpatient clinic; 48.8% in diagnostic procedures; 29.3% in endoscopic surgery; 67.5% in laparoscopic/robotic surgery and 17.5% in major open surgery. There were no differences in clinical activity reduction across residency years. Considering the impact of COVID-19 on urology training programs, 32.6% plan on prolonging residency. During the COVID-19 period, a larger number of residents report having spent more time developing research projects or on continuing medical education, as compared with the pre-COVID-19 period (p = 0.012).

Conclusions: COVID-19 had a major impact on Urology residency in Portugal, with major short- and long-term consequences. A large proportion of residents are considering prolonging their residency as a result.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; minimally invasive surgery; residency; survey; training programs; urology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Reduction of clinical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Figure 2
Figure 2
“Considering the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 contamination during minimally invasive surgery, how was this type of approach affected in your center?”. NA – not applicable
Figure 3
Figure 3
Measures adopted to lower the risk of contamination with SARS – CoV-2 during minimally invasive surgery. NA – not applicable
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-genera... (accessed on the 5th of June 2020)
    1. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/2... (accessed on the 5th of June 2020)
    1. https://covid19.min-saude.pt/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/84_DGS_boletim_2... (accessed on the 5th of June 2020)
    1. https://www.ft.com/content/67e1661b-f12b-4473-9bc2-aa2b5998ad73 accessed on the 25th October 2020.
    1. Modi PK, Portney D, Hollenbeck BK, Ellimoottil C. Engaging telehealth to drive value-based urology. Curr Opin Urol. 2018;28:342–347. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources