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The implementation of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathways represents a concerted effort to optimize patient outcomes in the perioperative period while minimizing postoperative complications and readmissions. ERAS achieves these objectives through the integration of various elements into a comprehensive perioperative management program, aimed at reducing surgical stress and its associated repercussions. Key principles of ERAS encompass preoperative counselling, nutritional strategies, emphasis on regional anaesthesia and nonopioid analgesics, meticulous fluid balance, maintenance of normothermia, and promotion of postoperative recovery strategies such as early mobilization and thromboprophylaxis. The benefits of ERAS are manifold, including shorter hospital stays, diminished postoperative pain and analgesic requirements, expedited return of bowel function, reduced complication and readmission rates, and heightened patient satisfaction, all achieved without elevating readmission, mortality, or reoperation rates. Effective adoption of ERAS necessitates institutions to evaluate their infrastructure and patient flow to support its implementation adequately. Furthermore, sustainable ERAS programs should be seamlessly integrated as a standard model of care within healthcare delivery systems. The success of ERAS hinges upon the simultaneous implementation of its multiple components, underscoring its holistic approach. Institutions are urged to endorse the adoption of ERAS pathways emphatically as a means to enhance patient care and improve perioperative outcomes.
Gupta et al. (Thu,) studied this question.