What are the risk factors for delayed discharge within an ERAS programme?

What are the risk factors for delayed discharge within an ERAS programme?

Pędziwiatr M, Pisarska M, Kisielewski M, Matłok M,Major P, Wierdak M, Budzyński A, Ljungqvist O. Is ERAS in laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer changing risk factors for delayed recovery? Med Oncol. 2016 Mar;33(3):25.

What is already known:

ERAS programmes are well known to reduce length of stay, however the reasons for a prolonged stay are not as well studied. In this Swedish pilot study which included the ERAS society chairman in its authorship, aimed to assess what influences delayed discharge within an ERAS program for laparoscopic colorectal surgery.

What this paper adds:

Length of stay did not seem to be affected by traditional patient risk factors eg ASA grade, co-morbidities or cancer stage but simply by compliance of the ERAS protocol. The exact reason why a patient did not follow the protocol fully remains to be answered, and may well be tricky to address but a key question to answer in the future.

Chris Jones, Guildford.