INTRODUCTION 1 Urologists and the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a urologist’s perspective from China Yi Lu1, 2, Xiaoqiang Liu1,* 1Department of Urology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, China 2Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, China *Corresponding author: Xiaoqiang Liu, Department of Urology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, 154 Anshan Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300052, China. E-mail: luis_will@126.com. Tel: +86 17731859376 Word count: 467 Running title: Urologists and the novel coronavirus disease 2019 Acknowledgments None. Competing interests No conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors for publication. Funding This work was supported by the Zhao Yi-Cheng Medical Science Foundation, China [grant No.ZYYFY2018031]. mailto:xiaoqiangliu1@163.com 2 TEXT The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has rapidly spread all over the world1. Up till now, the epidemic situation in China is relatively stable and remains contained. However, the global spread of the epidemic seems to be unstoppable, especially in Italy, Iran, South Korea and, the USA2. Hence, we shared some of China’s experiences on what urologists could do to cope with the COVID-19. In the epidemic area, urologists may receive suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients in hospitals. It is recommended by Wang et al. that the key role of maintaining the emergency management plans and quick responses to national and local emergencies. In the clinical practice, suspected or confirmed patients should be strictly handled following the rules of nosocomial infection. Yang et al. identified 15 (29%) patients with acute kidney injury in 52 severe COVID-19 cases3. Teleconsultation and if needed, bedside consultation can be provided by urologists. In outpatient and emergency rooms, urologists should differentiate patients with fever appropriately. Patients with fever and other symptoms of COVID-19, including cough, dyspnea, with or without epidemiological contact should be referred to the fever clinic. Urologists should participant in the initial evaluation of patients presenting with fever without other symptoms of COVID-19, such as urosepsis caused by the presence of urological devices. Great self-protection to prevent cross-infection should be adopted. Due to the overwhelming workload, frontline medical providers suffer from an increased risk of developing urinary tract infection and urolithiasis. Therefore, prevention measures, such as skin cleansing, drinking water, diet guidance, and timely urination can be provided by urologists to health-care workers. Although infectious diseases are far removed from urology specialty, we, urologists should keep the responsibilities as doctors in mind and participate in the fight against the epidemic worldwide. It is necessary to convey and diffuse prevent knowledge to the general public, 3 such as wearing masks and goggles, the possible urology-related transmission sources of COVID-19 and the necessity of strict home quarantine. On the other hand, urologists should inform patients which urology conditions are not necessary to treat immediately, and when they should ask for medical help and urologists should reschedule patients timely to keep positive doctor-patient relationships. Online teleconsultation sponsored by hospitals or governments through the Internet or cellphone is strongly recommended to meet the patients’ medical needs. In conclusion, urologists can participant actively in the process of pre-examination, triage and management of outpatient, inpatient, and emergency patients. Urologists can also convey urological knowledge to medical workers at the front, urological patients and the general public, provide teleconsultation, and keep positive doctor-patient relationships. Now is the crucial time to work together to defeat the COVID-19 outbreak. Even though we have devoted ourselves to genitourinary career, urologists can also play a role in fighting against the epidemic. REFERENCES 1. Guan W, Ni Z, Hu Y et al. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. New Engl J Med. 2020; 2. Bedford J, Enria D, Giesecke J et al. COVID-19: towards controlling of a pandemic. The Lancet. 2020; 3. Yang X, Yu Y, Xu J et al. Clinical course and outcomes of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a single-centered, retrospective, observational study. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 2020;