Perioperative care may be considered as a system amenable to industrial design approaches. The current care model is disjointed, prone to breakdown by failure of one component, and hostile to personnel. Moving a patient as a person and data set through the flow of perioperative care is not only possible, but it is essential for efficiency and safety. Perioperative systems design integrates the research agenda in technology, safety, informatics, and even telemedicine by putting all the pieces that constitute patient care into a cogent, flexible, and well-managed model.