• Jingru Pan, Ziqing Hei, Liping Li, Dan Zhu, Hongying Hou, Huizhen Wu, Chulian Gong, and Shaoli Zhou.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
• Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2020 Jan 1; 16: 369-378.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to test whether the implementation of an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol for patients undergoing elective cesarean delivery has a positive impact on the postoperative status of the patients in terms of pain management, hospital stay, hospitalization costs, and adverse reactions.MethodsPatients who underwent elective cesarean delivery were randomized into two groups - ERAS group and control group - and the groups were managed with the ERAS protocol and traditional protocol, respectively.ResultsCompared to the control group, the ERAS group had significantly fewer patients with intraoperative nausea, pain of visual analog scale (VAS) scores, and VAS grade >3 during rest in the first 24 h and during motion in the first 24 and 48 h after surgery. There were no intergroup differences in the requirement of extra analgesics, the incidence of vomiting, shivering, hypotension, postoperative nausea, and pruritus. None of the patients in either group had postoperative vomiting. Patient satisfaction rated as per the VAS was significantly higher in the ERAS group than in the control group. The total length of stay, postoperative length of stay, and the cost of anesthesia in both groups were comparable. Further, the average daily hospitalization cost was significantly lower in the ERAS group than in the control group.ConclusionThe ERAS protocol shows promise and appears to be worthwhile for widespread implementation among patients undergoing elective cesarean delivery; it was found to be beneficial in reducing the postoperative pain, incidence of intraoperative nausea, and average cost of hospitalization and also improved patient satisfaction.© 2020 Pan et al.

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