Background: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is a cohesive perioperative surgical care program, reliant of evidence based medicine, which is utilized to enhance patient care. This is done by minimizing surgical stress, improving functional recovery, reducing complications, as well as facilitating a more rapid hospital discharge. This study analyzed the influence of implementing an enhanced recovery following surgery protocol on patient outcomes in women who have received a laparoscopic hysterectomy procedure. We hypothesized that adoption of an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol would reduce hospital length of stay when contrasted to traditional care.Methods: This study was designed as a retrospective cohort study. Patients assigned to the Enhanced Recovery protocol were analyzed against historic controls from Jan 1, 2014 to March 30, 2014, prior to the implementation of the enhanced recovery protocol. No substantial variations in technology, surgical techniques, took place between the study period and the period from which historic controls were drawn. Outcome measurements included the percentage of patients who were admitted to the hospital after surgery (length of stay), Readmission rates, and complications.
Results:The percentage of patients admitted to hospital after surgery (length of stay) was significantly reduced after ERAS implementation (70% vs. 33%) (P < 0.05). This contrasts to the readmission rates and complications which were not significantly altered after ERAS implementation.
Conclusion:This small sample sized cohort study demonstrated that the ERAS program in laparoscopic hysterectomy significantly reduces the percentage of patients admitted to hospital after surgery (length of stay), with no increase in patient readmission rates or complications.