When residents work less, they feel better: Lessons learned from an unprecedent context of lockdown

With the COVID-19 outbreak activities of urology departments have been limited to non-deferrable procedures impacting the daily program of residents in urology. We assessed the psychological impact of the lockdown on Belgian residents in urology and their resounding on the quality of the training. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire assessing the risk of burnout in a pandemic situation and its impact on the quality of the training was e-mailed to the members of the European Society of Residents in Urology of Belgium (ESRU-B). We used the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory score which assesses the different dimensions of burnout (personal (CBIP), professional (CBIPro), relational (CBIR)). Several questions evaluating impact on residents’ health and apprehension of the future were included. The survey lasted for 5 days. Comparison of parameters before and during the coronavirus crisis was made using paired samples t-test or Chi2 test were. Fifty percent (62/126) of the ESRU-B members replied to the questionnaire. If 93% of the responders reported a negative impact on the quality of their practical training (CI95=[0.07–1.10]; P=0.83), 56% and 61.7% reported a positive impact of the crisis on their life and on their theoretical training respectively. Burnout risk scores were significantly reduced (P