Stanford Resumes Elective Surgeries

On April 22, California Governor Gavin Newson announced his plan to resume healthcare that was deferred due to COVID-19 surge preparation, including elective surgeries.

“Thanks to the work our health care delivery system has done expanding hospital capacity and reducing the rate of spread of COVID-19, hospitals and health systems can consider resuming medical care that residents have delayed during this crisis, such as heart valve replacements, angioplasty and tumor removals, when such care can be delivered safety and with appropriate protections for health care workers,” said Governor Newsom. “It’s in the best interest of the overall health of our state to allow these procedures to resume when they can be done safely.”

While many patients have waited weeks for surgeries that were safe to delay at the time, these procedures would not be safe to delay indefinitely as they could negatively impact their health. In light of this, Stanford convened a Procedural Operations Ramp-up Team (PORT) to increase the number of cases performed while continuing to ensure the safety of healthcare workers (HCW), patients, and the community.

In a bold step, Stanford began testing all patient-facing HCW, including those with no symptoms, for active COVID-19 infections and antibodies. This further ensures the safety of our healthcare environment for both patients as well as HCW.  As of 1PM on April 28, occupational health had tested almost 10,000 employees. Surgical patients will also be screened for COVID-19 in advance of their procedure.

Telehealth and virtual check-ins will continue where possible and the revised visitor policy will remain in place to reduce community exposure to health care workers and patients. COVID-19 patients are co-located within the hospital to increase safety and PPE supplies will be monitored on a daily-basis to ensure adequate resources to care for all patients.

PORT has quickly put into place the processes to safely proceed with all surgical procedures at Stanford hospitals and ambulatory sites by Monday, May 4. It will be great to return to some normalcy and be able to provide care for our patients who waited on the sidelines while we prepared for the COVID-19 surge.