Pediatric surgery nurses lead and coordinate COVID-19 recovery efforts

Planned pediatric surgeries stopped to prevent the spread of COVID-19, pre-serve beds for those who acquired the virus, and to maintain the supply of per-sonal protective equipment (PPE) for those caring for patients as part of the COVID-19 emergency response. In children awaiting surgery, nurses’ pre-oper-ative assessments of their current state, function, and pain are critical to their positions in line for surgeries and procedures. Currently, surgery resumption depends on hospital administrators, operating room schedulers, and families’ abilities to reach out. Evaluating outcomes in delayed pediatric surgeries may inform behaviors when cancelling and rescheduling surgeries in the future. As care teams re-engage with patients, pediatric surgery nurses must compel their multidisciplinary teams to maintain contact and relationships with children and their families throughout the delay. Building a nursing framework now for future emergency surgery lockdowns will make care teams more effective during the next crisis.