The program includes recommendations for preoperative education, nutritional care, fluid management, pain management, and postoperative care.
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Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols were first developed more than 20 years ago as a way to standardize best practices in general and colorectal surgery (Br J Anaesth. 1997;78:606-617). As reports of improved outcomes, shorter hospital stays, and enhanced patient satisfaction were published, other surgical specialties began to look at ERAS protocols.
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February 2019Working with the ERAS Society (erassociety.org), Joseph C. Dort, MD, MSc, and otolaryngologist–head and neck surgeon at the Cummings School of Medicine at the University of Calgary in Alberta, and Jeffrey Harris, MD, MHA, an otolaryngologist with the department of surgery at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, put together a multinational consortium that wrote ERAS protocols on perioperative care in major head and neck cancer surgery (JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2017;143:292–303).
The program not only focused on intraoperative practices; it also included recommendations for preoperative education, nutritional care, antibiotic stewardship, analgesic and anesthetic care, fluid management, pain management, and postoperative care (see “ERAS Protocols for Head and Neck Cancer Surgery,” below).