COVID-19 in urology Influence of the pandemic on telemedicine, education and surgery

The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has caused a worldwide economic and clinical disaster. During times with the highest infection rates, clinical practice for all specialties including urology shifted to the emergency setting. Proper patient selection needs to be done to avoid infection; however, there is a fine line between postponing surgery and negatively affecting the outcome of the disease to be treated. The rapid integration of telemedicine has helped to keep up outpatient medical care, interdisciplinary communication and education. Nevertheless, surgical education of urological residents initially fell behind. The real impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urology will probably first be seen after the awaited vaccine and control of COVID-19