Patients who have undergone mastectomies and breast reconstruction are having an easier time than ever recovering from their surgeries, all thanks to a new policy put in place in Calgary hospitals.
Enhanced Recovery After Surgery, also known as ERAS, was introduced back in 2013 at two hospitals and is being credited with helping patients feel better faster and also shortening the amount of time they spend in the hospital.
Doctors say the set of practices allow for the patients to often get home the same day following surgery, which is a surprise to many patients.
“Patients I recommend for surgery using ERAS are initially surprised when I tell them they’ll be going home the same day,” says Dr. Claire Temple-Oberle, a surgeon who specializes in breast reconstruction with implants, in a release. “But they experience less nausea, are able to eat sooner, have less pain, and they sleep better by returning to their homes and families.”
A recently completed pilot project showed that there was no increase in post-op complications by using ERAS and same-day discharge.
Without the use of such protocol, those same patients would have had to stay in hospital overnight to recover.
Officials also say that ERAS is showing promise in a second and more intensive form of breast reconstruction using abdominal tissue. Under the protocol, hospital stays have been shortened from seven days down to five on average.
Doctors say that there are more than 350 mastectomies and breast reconstructions conducted every year at Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre.
Plans are being made to offer ERAS to breast reconstruction at all Alberta hospitals, and estimates show that would free up about 1,600 bed days per year.
There are also plans in the works to offer ERAS for colorectal surgery patients across Alberta.
