A Comparative Study between Traditional Care Program and Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) Program in General Surgery

Abstract

Abstract Background Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) programs have been very important to surgeons who are keen to decrease postoperative morbidity, reducing variability in postoperative care and minimizing hospital costs Aim of the Work This study aims to assess the safety and efficacy of enhanced recovery after surgery programs in general surgery in comparison with traditional care. Patients and Methods The present prospective study was conducted at the General Surgery Department, Ain Shams University Hospitals in Cairo, Egypt from September 2017 to June 2018 on 80 patients undergoing general surgical interventions. Patients were randomly distributed into 2 groups: Group A (n = 40) for conventional protocol (control group) and Group B (n = 40) for enhanced recovery protocol (ERAS group). Results Patients of both groups passed the procedure efficiently without any intraoperative complications. The mean operative time was 155 minutes in control group and 160 minutes in ERAS group, this wasn’t statistically significant (P > 0.05). The mean amount of blood loss was 150 ml in control group and 175 ml in ERAS group which was also insignificant (P > 0.05). Mean length of hospital stay (LOS) was 3.05 in group A versus 1.2 in group B which was highly significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion ERAS pathway was shown to be feasible for application in general surgery as it shortened postoperative hospital stay and showed no increased risk to patients in terms of morbidity or mortality.