Karen Nash

"The burden of preauthorization, reimbursements not keeping up with inflation, and consequently, our abilities to staff and maintain our offices and pay our employees at appropriate levels are also affecting our ability to care for patients," said urologist Ronald P. Kaufman Jr, MD.

"Pandemic meetings were different because they were virtual. To be honest, those weren’t really good. I prefer to go to the meeting and be with other people and see them face-to-face," says Robert Gossett, MD.

"I’m frank with them. If it’s something I haven’t heard of, I tell them. I also tell them where I get my information," says Kevin Krughoff, MD.

"A couple [of] times recently, I’ve done 6 in 1 day. A couple weeks ago, I did 4, the week before that, 5. So I would say I’ve seen an uptick," says urologist Bradford Black, MD.

"The pendulum is swinging back. It’s all about provider education, hammering home the point that we have to do appropriate screening," says urologist Ryan Hankins, MD.

"It’s hard for me to believe urology’s the most stressful job, although it’s very stressful," says Aaron Bayne, MD.

"What I hope to see next year is continuing improvement in standards of care when we’re talking about [prostate-specific antigen] screening and prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment," says urologist Michael Cox, MD.

"In the office, absolutely, I should be called by my profession," says one urologist.

"We increasingly see the evolving role of ‘precision medicine’ in urology, using genetic and genomic testing to guide [management] for a variety of diseases, particularly bladder and prostate cancer," says 1 urologist.

“Community urologists need to interact more intimately with academic urologists so all of us have a voice in this direct-to-consumer conversation," says 1 urologist.

"We’ve had no trouble recruiting because we focus on creating a positive culture with our team," says 1 urologist.

"With urge incontinence, the biggest advantage over the past few years is the emergence, and the proven efficacy, of the β-3 agonists, which are much better medications than the anticholinergic," says 1 urologist.

"My experience with patients who are on surveillance, who meet the criteria for active surveillance, [is that they] tend to be younger and healthier patients, so I don’t see why not," says one urologist.

"I use PSA testing to make sure patients with high-risk prostate cancer, specifically, and advanced prostate cancer, or even metastatic prostate cancer, don’t go undiagnosed," says 1 urologist.

"There are many aspects of urology that get equal attention. Cancer will always attract attention and dollars, but it’s trickier to solve," says 1 urologist.

"Our hospital doesn’t have a [COVID-19 vaccination] mandate. A mandate would cost us a handful of nurses," says 1 urologist.

"Without any real data [showing] that this improves anything, it just makes us too accessible," says one urologist.

"Patients started coming out with the vaccine but now they’re retreating. It’s difficult to get individuals to follow up," says 1 urologist.

"In my system, if one were to act in an untoward way toward a transgender patient, there would be a significant problem," says 1 urologist.

"When we consider potential employees, we look specifically for people who are most likely to care about the people we’re taking care of," says one urologist.

Urology Times reached out to 3 urologists and asked them, "How did you cope with the increased stress the pandemic has placed on your life?"

"My main complaint about virtual lectures is the loss of camaraderie of seeing colleagues face to face and having casual conversations," says one urologist.

“I remember being, I guess, relieved that I matched. It’s so competitive. It’s never a sure thing. You match somewhere; I remember relief with that," says 1 urologist.

"We typically do urodynamics when something’s unclear and confusing. I don’t always do urodynamics before doing a sling," says 1 urologist.

"Everything comes down to patient selection and location of the stones," says one urologist.

"I’m just praying for it to go back to the way it was in 2019, honestly," says 1 urologist.

"I listen to whatever my staff actually wants to listen to, except I say ‘no rap’ " says one urologist.

“It’s going to be a slow process for hospitals to give the proper information to their physicians so that when we’re moving on to the new coding system, we’re not doing extra work," says one urologist.

"We’re taking it in stride. We don’t overbook to the point where we’re overwhelmed, and we’re not exhausting ourselves," says one urologist.