Internal medicine

Disease

Front line

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Mathematics

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Outbreak

Engineering

Political science

Virology

Line (geometry)

Geometry

Front (military)

Betacoronavirus

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Medicine

Mechanical engineering

International Journal of Impotence Research

and I would like to share my experience as an Italian andrologist working at the front line in Covid-19 wards in Valle d'Aosta, the Italian region with the highest rate of infection with coronavirus based on the number of residents.Since the middle of March 2020 our Hospital, (Umberto Parini Hospital, Aosta, Italy) has begun a gradual transformation into a "Covid-19 Unit" with the medical and surgical wards turned into COVID-19 wards at different care intensities.Our Department of Surgery has been transformed as well.In particular, the Urology/Andrology ward, that I lead, underwent a deep transformation: medical rooms, warehouses, the kitchen, the aisles have been transformed into rooms to allow the medical staff to adopt the safe procedures before and after visiting patients, single and double rooms to treat and isolate positive COVID-19 patients, areas for storage and disposal of specific COVID-19 equipment.At the same time the working life of physicians and nurses has been highly affected by the new policies and procedures of the hospital and the pandemic itself.Being a clinician, expert in elective surgery, I do believe that it has been extremely important to try to manage as soon as possible the stress.I took advantage of training courses in the hospital aiming at learning about mechanical ventilation, online trainings courses available on the website and, personally, I was lucky to have as my own teacher my wife, a specialist in Emergency Medicine.After a few days from the starting of emergency in our region, our Head of Department looked for volunteers from *

An andrologist in the front line Covid-19 team