Initiating an Enhanced Recovery Pathway Program: An Anesthesiology Department’s Perspective

Thoracic Epidural Anesthesia and Prophylactic Three Times Daily Unfractionated Heparin Within an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Pathway for Colorectal Surgery

“…25 As part of our institutional VTE guidelines and ERAS protocol, all patients at moderate, high, or very high risk (which include all of the patients in this study) should receive one subcutaneous dose of 5000 units of UFH before surgical incision. 26 This impact is extrapolated further to the surgical population given their substantial risk profile. One prior study at our institution showed that even with more than 90% of patients being prescribed recommended thromboprophylaxis, the incidence of VTE after colorectal surgery was approximately 5%.…”

Effective Implementation of Enhanced Recovery Pathway Programs: The Key to Disseminating Evidence into Practice

“…1 As fast-track surgery has evolved into multidisciplinary care initiatives that require coordination between key stakeholders from surgery, anesthesiology, and nursing, and that leverage large data stores from integrated electronic health records (EHRs), an improvement in the perioperative care delivery model has taken place. Despite recent debate on the clinical efficacy of some components of ERPs, there is now strong evidence that effective implementation of these comprehensive care initiatives is associated with enhanced value of care, as realized through decreased perioperative morbidity, decreased hospital length of stay, and improved patient satisfaction.…”

Point-of-Care Ultrasound for the Regional Anesthesiologist and Pain Specialist

“…[25][26][27] As our role develops, we will need to embrace the use of PoCUS, especially since this technology can be used to detect some of the complications (eg, pneumothorax) that may arise from our techniques, in a more rapid and efficient manner than traditional imaging modalities.…”