Office Based Pediatric Urologic Procedures: A Safe and Effective Alternative to Interventions Under Anesthesia.

OBJECTIVE: To report on our experience performing office-based pediatric urologic procedures. We hypothesize that office-based interventions are safe and effective for children, avoiding unnecessary risk and cost associated with general anesthesia. METHODS: We retrospectively identified patients undergoing office-based interventions from 2014 to 2019, including lysis of penile or labial adhesions, division of skin bridges, meatotomy and excision of benign lesion. Success was defined as a completed attempt in the office. Failure includes any unsuccessful office attempts. Complications include 30-day ED visits/readmissions and recurrent skin bridge post division of skin bridge. RESULTS: We identified 1326 interventions: 491 lyses of penile adhesions (37%), 320 division of skin bridges (24%), 128 lyses of labial adhesions (10%), 348 meatotomies (26%), and 39 excisions of benign lesions (3%) [Table 1]. There was a >95% success rate reported in every procedure with an overall complication rate of 0.6%. Excision of benign lesion had 100% success rate. ED visits within 30 days are rare (0.2%), and no patients required admission after their procedure [Table 2]. The rate of recurrence was highest following lysis of labial adhesions (13.3%). Of the 54 patients who underwent retreatment, very few required general anesthesia (n = 6). CONCLUSION: Office-based urologic interventions in children are well tolerated with excellent safety and efficacy. Complications and recurrence are universally low. Ultimately, 99.5% of this cohort was managed under local anesthetics, thereby avoiding the risks of anesthesia use in the pediatric population.

Adapting to the Educational Challenges of a Pandemic: Development of a Novel Virtual Urology Subinternship During the Time of COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE: To design, implement, and evaluate learner attitudes of a virtual urologic surgery clinical rotation for medical students. METHODS: Ten senior medical students at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania were enrolled. Students were administered a precourse test on their perceived confidence of their urologic knowledge, confidence in identifying urologic conditions, comfort with performing urologic evaluations, and confidence placing consults for urologic issues. Students participated in a 2-week curriculum that included both asynchronous and synchronous content. Asynchronous content included prerecorded lectures, self-paced problem-based learning modules, directed reading and video content, and an online discussion board. Synchronous content included real-time videoconferences covering case discussions, simulated patient presentations, and critical literature reviews. At the conclusion of the course, students were administered the postcourse survey evaluating changes in their ability to identify and understand urologic conditions. RESULTS: The postcourse survey demonstrated this course significantly increases students' scores in: self-perceived urologic knowledge, confidence in naming urologic conditions, comfort with performing urologic evaluations, and confidence placing consults for urologic conditions (P <.05). CONCLUSION: Virtual medical student rotations are scalable and effective at delivering surgical material and can approximate the interpersonal teaching found in clinical learning environments. They may be a useful tool to supplement or augment clinical learning in select situations.