The Impact of the First Covid 19 Pandemic on Urology Res-idency Training in Iran

During the pandemic, Iranian healthcare system had faced many challenges including the con-tinuation of medical education. In this time, almost all elective surgeries have been suspended, outpatient visitshave been limited to seriously ill patients, and academic meeting have been cancelled. This process has causeda significant decrease in clinical and surgical practice in the field of urology. In this article, we assess as to whatextent and how this pandemic has impacted the urology residency training in Iran.

A 15-item-longquestionnaire was designed and sent to all Iranian urology residents via social network and/or email from the10th of MAY to the 10th of Jun 2020. This questionnaire assessed different training activities, including on-call duty, outpatient visits, diagnostic procedures such as cystoscopy, endoscopic procedures, and open majorsurgeries, prior and during the pandemic. The results were evaluated using t-test and ANOVA.

Thepercentage of urology resident’s involvement in each training activity, including on-call duty, outpatient visits,diagnostic procedures such as cystoscopy, endoscopic procedures, and open major surgeries, demonstrated asignificant decline (p<0.001) during this time compared to the pre-COVID-19 period.

Urology res-idency training significantly decreased during the COVID-19 period. In order to address the second and thirdwaves of COVID-19 outbreak, long-term action plans, such as telemedicine and stimulation, can help preparetraining programs and residents during these unprecedented times.