Enhanced recovery after surgery in patients with colorectal cancer: a non-systematic summary of the evidence

Patients with colorectal cancer may require colorectal surgery as part of their treatment. Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) is an evidence-based multimodal pathway that improves patients’ outcomes by attending to specific aspects of patients’ needs from pre-admission to post-discharge. This article reports findings of a non-systematic review of the literature on ERAS in the context of patients undergoing colorectal surgery. Evidence suggests that ERAS improves patients’ outcomes by decreasing post-surgical complications and therefore reducing length of stay in hospital. The article also discusses how nurses are fundamental to the implementation of an ERAS pathway.