Introduction: The pandemic decreased surgical missions forcing us to expand the use of technology in skill sharing. The use of Augmented reality (AR) allows mentors to stay home and mentor procedures in LMICs. We surveyed the mentees to evaluate their perceptions of this technology in performing urethral reconstruction. Methods: To evaluate perceived effectiveness of AR technology in urethral reconstruction between mentees throughout Africa and a mentor in the US. Mentees used either Proximie AR system or Vuzix smart glasses which allows the mentor to observe and provide real-time assistance with urethral reconstructions, mostly posterior urethral reconstructions. Online surveys were completed by the mentees to evaluate the technology. Results: Four urologist in Africa, Benin, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Senegal were included in the study. All of the mentees performed urethral reconstructions before the virtual training. All mentees thought their surgical skills improved with the virtual training and that the training provided significant in the success of the procedure. 75% felt that the AR training was inferior to in person training. They all agree or strongly agree that AR training does augment in person visits and 75% feel that that AR training will not replace in-person training. Conclusions: Surgical missions were significantly affected during the pandemic but it forced us to use new technology to continue our mentoring. AR technology allows for more frequent interactions and decreased costs of in-person meetings but it was felt that AR would not replace the in country visits. Further studies looking at outcomes of these AR assisted procedures and expanding the technology to other centers are on going. SOURCE OF Funding: None
