All about ERAS: Why anesthesiologists need to understand this concept

Due to increasing interest in better evidence-based perioperative care protocols in today's value-based healthcare world administrators and practice management staff should acquire a basic understanding of the 'Enhanced Recovery After Surgery,' or ERAS, concept, according to an Anesthesia Business Consultants blog post.

Here are seven things to know about the concept:

1. Enhanced recovery after surgery protocols are multimodal perioperative care pathways designed to achieve early recovery after surgical procedures, according to an article in Canadian Urological Association Journal.

2. ERAS programs were initiated by Professor Henrik Kehlet in Denmark in the 1990s, and they have become an important focus of perioperative management.

3. ERAS protocols and programs lead to improved outcomes, reduced rates of complications, shorter inpatient stays and cost-savings, notes the article.

4. According to the ERAS Society website, use of the ERAS pathway has been shown to reduce care time by more than 30 percent and reduce postoperative complications by up to 50 percent.  

5. However, adoption of these protocols has been slow. Some reasons for this include lack of awareness of advances in ERAS programs among the anesthesia community and lack of interest in reviewing surgical literature, according to an American Society of Anesthesiologists' article.

6. But the development of the perioperative surgical home is most likely going to increase the popularity of ERAS programs.

7. ERAS programs reflect some of the features of the PSH. However, it places less emphasis on patient care coordination.

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