Innovative staff at the PA Hospital are constantly looking at new ways to improve patient outcomes, with the ERAS pathway a fantastic example of that.
Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is a multimodal peri-operative care pathway aimed at reducing the length of stay for patients who have major surgery through early recovery.
It’s also designed to reduce potential complications post-surgery.
The model is currently being used in Colorectal Surgery at PAH, which SMO Anaesthesia Dr Edward Pilling says is all about giving excellent care to patients.
“What we’re trying to do is have a series of standards that we meet in every single patient. The idea is that if you hit these small targets and do them consistently well then you improve the patient journey and decrease their length of stay.
“ERAS is about standardising care so we’re doing the same on the ward, in the theatre, in post-op, and in physiotherapy, so we know we’re giving gold standard care.
“We’re already doing a lot of this patient-centred care, but ERAS is essentially an integrated program to further benefit the patient,” he said.
“It’s essential that we explore these sorts of clinical pathways and we’re excited to be looking at some other departments that may benefit from the ERAS protocols in addition to Colorectal,” said Dr Pilling.