• Kay B Leissner, Jessica L Shanahan, Peter L Bekker, and Houman Amirfarzan.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Management, VA Boston Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School , West Roxbury, Massachusetts.
• J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A. 2017 Sep 1; 27 (9): 883-891.

BackgroundAs part of an effort to maximize value in the perioperative setting, a paradigm shift is underway in the way that patients are cared for preoperatively, on the day of surgery, and postoperatively-a setting collectively known as the perioperative care. Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) is an evidence-based, patient-centered team approach to delivering high-quality perioperative care to surgical patients.MethodsThis review focuses on anesthesiologists, with their unique purview of perioperative setting, who are important drivers of change in the delivery of valuable perioperative care. ERAS care pathways begin in the preoperative setting by both preparing the patient for the psychological stress of surgery and optimizing the patient's medical and physiologic status so the body is ready for the physical demands of surgery.ResultsMinimization of perioperative fasting is important to maintain volume status-decreasing reliance on intravenous fluid administration, and to reduce protein catabolism around the time of surgery. Intraoperative management in ERAS pathways relies on goal-directed fluid therapy and opioid-sparing multimodal analgesia. Postoperatively, early feeding and ambulation, as well as discontinuation of extraneous lines and catheters facilitate patients' functional recovery.ConclusionThe laparoscopic approach to surgery, when possible, compliments ERAS techniques by reducing abdominal wall trauma and the resultant milieu of inflammatory, neurohumoral, and pain responses. Anesthesiologists driving change in the perioperative setting, in collaboration with surgeons and other disciplines, can improve value in healthcare and provide optimal outcomes that matter most to patients and healthcare providers alike.

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