Urology
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To evaluate the personal protective equipment (PPE) utilized in common urologic procedures before and during the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. As elective urologic procedures are being reduced to conserve resources, we sought to quantify the PPE used per case to determine the impact on potentially limited resources needed for protecting healthcare providers treating COVID-19 patients. ⋯ PPE consumption varied significantly across urologic procedures. Robotic-assisted cases require the most PPE and percutaneous nephrostomy placement by VIR requires the fewest. While PPE shortages are currently being addressed national and internationally, our results provide a baseline benchmark for articles of PPE required should another pandemic or global disaster requiring careful attention to resource allocation occur in the future.
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To describe and evaluate a risk-stratified triage pathway for inpatient urology consultations during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. This pathway seeks to outline a urology patient care strategy that reduces the transmission risk to both healthcare providers and patients, reduces the healthcare burden, and maintains appropriate patient care. ⋯ During the COVID-19 pandemic, most urology consultations can be managed in a patient and physician safety-conscious manner, by implementing a novel triage pathway.