The operative volume of New Zealand based urology trainees during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Introduction & Objectives: Operative volume is often used as an indicator of competency. During the COVID-19 pandemic many New Zealand hospitals limited elective operating. A retrospective review was performed, to quantify the impact of restrictions on trainee operative volume. Method(s) New Zealand based urology trainee operative numbers were obtained from the Morbidity Audit & Logbook Tool (MALT) from 2018- 2021. Several index operations were selected as markers of operative exposure. Both the mean and median number of cases per trainee each quarter per year were calculated as well as average total annual number of each operation per trainee. Result(s) During the second quarter of 2020 when NZ was in its strictest lockdown, operative numbers across almost all procedures assessed dropped from the preceding quarter, with the exception of radical prostatectomy. This contrasts with other years where second quarter operative numbers tended to increase compared to the prior quarter. However, with the extension in the NZ training year in 2020, overall operative numbers were not significantly different to the adjacent years. Conclusion(s) There does not appear to have been a significant impact on the operative volume for NZ based trainees. This may reflect the higher priority given to cancer operations, the extension of the 2020 training year, and the low numbers of noncancer operations being performed prior to the pandemic.