Postoperative Management of the Hospitalized Patient
Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathways have been advanced for the purposes of cost containment, standardization of care, and standardization of surgical outcomes. Adoption of an ERAS pathway has been associated with a shortened length of hospital stay and improved outcomes in colorectal surgery in randomized prospective trials, which has led to the implementation of the ERAS approach in other procedures. Each pathway is specific to a given procedure, and no universal postoperative pathway has been proposed or investigated.