The urological practice and contribution to the general health system of the EBU accredited urology clinic during the first month of COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis from a tertiary center declared as a national COVID-19 pandemic hospital in Turkey.

objectiveThis study aims to evaluate the overall healthcare performance of our re-organized urology clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. MATERIAL AND

methodsA retrospective review of our department data was conducted between March 20, 2020, and April 16, 2020. All consecutive patients who received healthcare in both urology and emergency COVID-19 clinics by urologists during this period were included. We classified our healthcare into 4 categories: 1) Standard urological outpatient clinic procedures, 2) Urological emergency procedures, 3) Standard inpatient treatment clinic procedures and specific inpatient treatment clinic procedures for COVID-19 suspected cases, and 4) Specific emergency clinic procedures for COVID-19. Epidemiologic data and patient characteristics were analyzed using independent t test and chi-square test.

resultsOverall, the data of 990 patients were evaluated. Of these patients, 344 were seen in standard urology outpatient clinic and 212 were transferred from COVID-19 emergency clinic and hospitalized because of suspected COVID-19 infection. In the COVID-19 emergency clinic, 361 patients were seen by urologists in different shifts. Our workload was on behalf of COVID-19 cases. In our COVID-19 experience, there were no statistically significant differences between our suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients in terms of mean age, sex and age periods (p=0.30, p=0.77, and p=0.78, respectively).

conclusionWe successfully contributed to the national COVID-19 management program. In our opinion, each department should create a customized action plan instead of a standardized approach during the COVID-19 pandemic or potential public emergencies in the future.