 The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruption to the healthcare system around the world. Two hospitals in Quebec, Canada, were studied to understand how they adapted to the influx of patients during the pandemic. Both hospitals implemented staff reassignment as part of their overall strategy for coping with the crisis. The differences in the way the two hospitals approached this strategy highlighted the importance of understanding the contextual factors that influenced the implementation of such strategies. These factors included past reforms in Quebec, which had a significant impact on the ability of the two hospitals to implement staff reassignment. This article was authored by Pierre-Marie David, Morgan Gabet, Arnaud Duhu, and others.