ACS, AORN, ASA, AHA develop roadmap for resuming elective surgery

Editor's Note

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) on April 17 announced that the ACS, AORN, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), and American Hospital Association (AHA) together developed a roadmap to guide readiness, prioritization, and scheduling for safely resuming elective surgery.

Highlights of the roadmap include:

• Implementing a policy for testing staff and patients for COVID-19, including a response for when a staff member or patient tests positive.
• Forming a committee, which includes surgery, anesthesiology, and nursing leadership, to develop a surgery prioritization policy. The policy should factor in previously canceled and postponed cases and allot block time for priority cases.
• Adopting COVID-19 informed policies for five phases of surgical care, from preoperative to postdischarge care planning.
• Collecting and assessing COVID-19 data and using it to re-evaluate and reassess policies and procedures.
• Creating and implementing a social distancing policy for staff, patients, and visitors in nonrestricted areas.

Readiness for resuming elective procedures will vary by geographic location depending on local COVID-19 activity and response resources.