Evaluate the compliance of perioperative practices of the patients with the enhanced recovery after surgery protocols

Abstract

The Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) protocol is a multimodal and evidence-based medical practice developed to define the concept of perioperative interventions to improve postoperative outcomes. The protocol consists of a number of elements implemented in the pre-, intra - and post-operative periods. This study aimed to evaluate the compliance of perioperative practices with the ERAS protocols in patients undergoing surgical intervention. In this descriptive and prospective study, 405 patients who underwent surgery in the General Surgery Clinic of a University Hospital created a sample of the study. In the study, where no intervention was made to the patients included in the study, the compliance of routine perioperative practices in the clinic offered to patients undergoing surgery to the protocol was evaluated using the questionnaire prepared in this direction. Procedures such as, in the preoperative period, providing verbal information to all the patients and giving antibiotic prophylaxis to 98.5% of the patients, in the intraoperative period, preferring the smallest possible surgical incision, and, in the postoperative period, using the paracetamol (99.5%) as the first choice for analgesia were compatible with the ERAS protocols. Procedures such as, in the preoperative period, not providing oral carbohydrate to any of the patients and keeping the fasting period longer period (10.91 ± 4.79 hours), in the intraoperative period, preferring anesthetic agents that are effective for a long time, and not perform the necessary practices to ensure normothermia in any of the patients, and, in the postoperative period, not starting the oral nutrition early and using urinary catheterization for 87.7% of the patients were not compatible with the ERAS protocols. As a result of the research, it was determined that the routine perioperative applications in the clinic did not sufficiently comply with the ERAS protocol.