A surgical case brought to a standstill while the nurse runs to retrieve a missing instrument from sterile processing. A line of anxious patients waiting to get into a changing room. A finished procedure stalled in the OR while the staff waits for a PACU bed to open up. These are the types of scenes you don't want to encounter in your new surgical facility. As one architect puts it, the layout of your facility should be "organized to avoid the chaos" that can disrupt patient flow, clog up the system and ultimately waste precious OR time. Here are 7 design features that help maximize surgical throughput and operational efficiency.