Is your SPD ready for a post-COVID world?

While responding to demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, perioperative leaders are busy preparing staff and departments for life after the initial shock subsides. Chief among their preparations are strategies to address the glut of demand for surgery due to postponement of elective and nonessential surgical procedures. Naturally, many focus on creation of capacity in the OR—expanding hours, increasing utilization, redistributing blocks, and otherwise aligning demand with capacity. However, to realize the full potential within each plan, leaders must look beyond patient-facing elements of the system to those that lie in the background and often, quite literally, under their feet.