The state of telehealth: 2 years into the COVID-19 pandemic - back to business as usual?

INTRODUCTION: Telemedicine (TM) was underutilized prior to the COVID-19 pandemic presumably due to non-standardized reimbursement routes and a perceived lack of need. Early experience with the pandemic necessitated this form of medical care, although durability of consistent delivery remains in question. We quantify the utilization patterns of TM over the past 2 years over multiple waves of the pandemic across various service lines in a large rural health system. MATERIALS: Data of TM utilization were prospectively collected between March 2020-January 2022. Rates of adoption among the various surgical and non-surgical services disciplines were compared. Subgroup analyses between different surgical subspecialties and within the urologic subspecialties was performed. RESULTS: 3.5 million visits were recorded; 3.14 million (90%) on-site and 349,989 (10%) TM; 254,919 (73%) video-assisted and 95,070 (27%) were telephonic. Throughout the pandemic, non-surgical services utilized TM to a greater extent than surgical services (mean% 12 vs 6). Significant variation in the utilization among surgical services was reported, with Urology representing a high utilizer (15%); Among Urologic subspecialties utilization, Endourology (28%) was highest and Pediatric Urology (5%) was lowest. Following an initial spike in TM utilization during the pandemic, rates have declined and plateaued at 5-7% of all visits over the past 6-months. CONCLUSION: TM utilization in this large health system has remained under 10% following the initial surge in 2020. Non-surgical services preferentially use TM more than surgical domains. Certain subspecialties utilize TM more than others, possible due to patient population, practice patterns and medical conditions. Barriers to adoption are essential to determine the relatively low volume of use across this health system.

An unexpected association between urinary incontinence, depression and sexual dysfunction.

Certain aspects of urinary incontinence, depression and sexual function are proving to be tied to one another in ways other than the obvious. From a biochemical standpoint certain monoamines, specifically serotonin, appear to be important in the expression of these pathologic states. In depression, the role of serotonin is fairly well established, and there is increasing evidence for there being a role in a specific cause of incontinence as well. There is only empiric evidence that serotonin plays a role in some types of sexual dysfunction. However, the possibility of this connection between such distinct disorders is fodder for theoretic conjecture.

Transurethral resection of the prostate: the new old standard.

A literature search was performed for articles between June 2000 and July 2001 pertaining to transurethral resection of the prostate. Eight of the most interesting and/or groundbreaking articles, as deemed by the authors, were selected for review. Topics discussed include transurethral vaporization of the prostate, laser prostatectomy, preoperative finasteride, pelvic floor rehabilitation, the impact of the quantity of tissue removed, bladder infusion prior to catheter removal, and ethanol-glycine in assessment of the absorption of irrigation fluid.