• Zarina S Ali, Tracy S Ma, Ali K Ozturk, Neil R Malhotra, James M Schuster, Paul J Marcotte, M Sean Grady, and William C Welch.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
• Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2018 Jan 1; 164: 142-153.

ObjectiveDespite surgical, technological, medical, and anesthetic improvements, patient outcomes following elective neurosurgical procedures can be associated with high morbidity. Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are multimodal care pathways designed to optimize patient outcomes by addressing pre-, peri-, and post-operative factors. Despite significant data suggesting improved patient outcomes with the adoption of these pathways, development and implementation has been limited in the neurosurgical population.Methods/ResultsThis study protocol was designed to establish the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of implementation of an ERAS protocol on the improvement of clinical and patient reported outcomes and patient satisfaction scores in an elective inpatient spine surgery population. Neurosurgical patients undergoing spinal surgery will be recruited and randomly allocated to one of two treatment arms: ERAS protocol (experimental group) or hospital standard (control group). The experimental group will undergo interventions at the pre-, peri-, and post-operative time points, which are exclusive to this group as compared to the hospital standard group.ConclusionsThe present proposal aims to provide supporting data for the application of these specific ERAS components in the spine surgery population and provide rationale/justification of this type of care pathway. This study will help inform the design of a future multi-institutional, randomized controlled trial.Resultsof this study will guide further efforts to limit post-operative morbidity in patients undergoing elective spinal surgery and to highlight the impact of ERAS care pathways in improving patient reported outcomes and satisfaction.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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