PROVIDENCE OREGON – A recent review of the evidence supports discontinuing pre-procedure testing of asymptomatic patients undergoing surgery. This change has been made as of Monday, Nov. 7.
Important notes
- If a patient reports any COVID symptoms, they should obtain a test and their planned surgical date should be re-evaluated.
- For patients with a symptomatic COVID infection, we continue to recommend a delay of elective surgery for seven weeks from symptom onset when possible.
- The data have shown a significant increased risk if the patient is symptomatic at the time of diagnosis, and an even higher risk if surgery occurs while symptoms are still present.
- If surgery is urgent, the patient’s age, medical comorbidities, invasiveness of surgery, as well as persistent symptoms should be considered when deciding about timing of surgery.
- We recommend that surgical patients be up to date with COVID vaccinations (preferably completed two weeks prior to surgery).
Learn more
See more about the evidence behind this decision, including a review of recent studies, in the announcement sent to surgeons.
Enter content here
