CHICAGO (August 8, 2017): Collaborators in a new nationwide program for hospitals designed to improve the recovery of surgical patients have identified their first set of evidence-based recommendations: a care plan for colon and rectal surgical procedures. This review of the best available scientific evidence for optimal care before, during, and after colorectal operations is published online as an "article in press" on the Journal of the American College of Surgeons website in advance of print publication.
The authors present a 12-component clinical pathway (or standardized care plan) in the article, which builds on enhanced postoperative recovery principles. Many studies have already shown that enhanced recovery practices lower costs, improve safety, and speed recovery for surgical patients while increasing patient satisfaction.1
The new clinical pathway is a comprehensive compilation of key elements of enhanced recovery as well as the current U.S. guidelines for prevention of several common postoperative complications. These complications include surgical site infection (SSI), venous thromboembolus (blood clot), and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (UTI), according to study coauthor Elizabeth Wick, MD, FACS, associate professor of surgery at the University of California San Francisco and a core faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Baltimore.
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"Our work is unique because it's not just a guideline. It is an evidence-based review as part of a larger implementation program that will support and help hundreds of hospitals translate best evidence for perioperative care into clinical practice," said Dr. Wick, referring to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery (ISCR), currently administered by the American College of Surgeons (ACS).
Funded and guided by the AHRQ, the ISCR is a collaboration with the ACS and the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. Program goals are to improve clinical outcomes (measurable results of care) and the patient experience, reduce complications and the length of hospital stay, and increase efficiency. To accomplish these goals, participating hospitals will receive education, tools, and coaching support as they roll out the same clinical pathway, as well as gain access to a registry that tracks compliance.
