ABSTRACT
Sept. 15, 2020 Introduction Poland was initially less affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, however, severe restrictions, and health care restructuration have impacted all areas of medicine, including urology. [...]we aimed, via an online survey, to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Polish urologists and urology residents. [...]despite initial success with flattening the COVID-19 incidence curve, escalating restrictions, further health care restructuration (including the opening of COVID-19-dedicated hospitals), and unexplored COVID-19 fear likely led to indirect adverse effects of the pandemic also impacting Polish physicians and their work. [...]COVID-19, a droplets-transmitted respiratory infection, despite not being in the initial scope of treatment of urologists, has impacted all areas of urology including emergencies, outpatient clinics, elective surgeries, as well as physicians' everyday lives [6, 7]. Most of the responders felt that their main worksite provided PPE (definitely yes: 20.09%;rather yes: 49.78%), with 78.60% believing that the availability of PPE has improved since the outbreak in March, 2020. [...]86.92% of doctors reported over 25% declines in outpatient consultations and 55.90% claimed that their income dropped over 25%. There were also other borderline significant results, such as more urologists and residents working in the COVID-19 centers indicating >50% earnings decreases as compared to those not in COVID-19 dedicated centers (36.1% vs. 21.2%) DISCUSSION Our study indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has deeply and negatively influenced Polish urologists and urology residents, in terms of clinical practice, financial situation, mental health, and family life.