• Charles M Oliver, Samantha Warnakulasuriya, Dermot McGuckin, Georgina Singleton, Peter Martin, Cristel Santos, James Bedford, Duncan Wagstaff, Arun Sahni, David Gilhooly, Jonathan Wilson, Kylie Edwards, Rachel Baumber, Cecilia Vindrola-Padros, Jenny Dorey, Irene Leeman, Hannah Boyd-Carson, Ravi Vohra, Pritam Singh, Matthew Bedford, Abigail Vallance, Giuseppe Aresu, Olga Tucker, Michael Swart, Monty G Mythen, PQIP project delivery team, Suneetha R Moonesinghe, and PQIP collaborative.
• Centre for Perioperative Medicine, Research Department for Targeted Intervention, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, UK; Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, University College London Hospitals, London, UK.
• Br J Anaesth. 2022 Jul 1; 129 (1): 114126114-126.

BackgroundEnhanced recovery pathways are associated with improved postoperative outcomes. However, as enhanced recovery pathways have become more complex and varied, compliance has reduced. The 'DrEaMing' bundle re-prioritises early postoperative delivery of drinking, eating, and mobilising. We investigated relationships between DrEaMing compliance, postoperative hospital length of stay (LOS), and complications in a prospective multicentre major surgical cohort.MethodsWe interrogated the UK Perioperative Quality Improvement Programme dataset. Analyses were conducted in four stages. In an exploratory cohort, we identified independent predictors of DrEaMing. We quantified the association between delivery of DrEaMing (and its component variables) and prolonged LOS in a homogenous colorectal subgroup and assessed generalisability in multispecialty patients. Finally, LOS and complications were compared across hospitals, stratified by DrEaMing compliance.ResultsThe exploratory cohort comprised 22 218 records, the colorectal subgroup 7230, and the multispecialty subgroup 5713. DrEaMing compliance was 59% (13 112 patients), 60% (4341 patients), and 60% (3421), respectively, but varied substantially between hospitals. Delivery of DrEaMing predicted reduced odds of prolonged LOS in colorectal (odds ratio 0.51 [0.43-0.59], P<0.001) and multispecialty cohorts (odds ratio 0.47 [0.41-0.53], P<0.001). At the hospital level, complications were not the primary determinant of LOS after colorectal surgery, but consistent delivery of DrEaMing was associated with significantly shorter LOS.ConclusionsDelivery of bundled and unbundled DrEaMing was associated with substantial reductions in postoperative LOS, independent of the effects of confounder variables. Consistency of process delivery, and not complications, predicted shorter hospital-level length of stay. DrEaMing may be adopted by perioperative health systems as a quality metric to support improved patient outcomes and reduced hospital length of stay.Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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