Perioperative Facility Planning Considerations

Facility planning for perioperative services is no longer limited to clinical areas directly in support of operating room surgical cases. For example, the advent of interventional procedures requiring various levels of conscious sedation and anesthesia in specialties such as gastroenterology, radiology, and urology impact support areas such as preadmissions, preoperative processing, and the postanesthesia care unit. Additionally, the health care facility venue in which perioperative services is provided impacts facility planning for these same support areas. This article explores required health care facility planning for perioperative services before the development of the facility design to ensure all users of perioperative support spaces are planned for adequately.