Midwifery
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A maternity service in Australia recently implemented an 'Enhanced recovery after Elective Caesarean' pathway, which includes antenatal preparation and facilitates an active role in postnatal recovery such as encouraging mobility and early cessation of fasting. The pathway includes next day discharge for women and their babies after elective caesarean section and safely transitions maternity care from hospital to home with community midwifery care. While enhanced recovery has been implemented in a number of surgical procedures to reduce hospital stay and to improve patient outcomes it has only been considered for elective caesarean sections in more recent years. Given this, enhanced recovery is not well established or researched in obstetric contexts. Furthermore, women's experiences with reduced hospital stays post-caesarean, particularly next day discharge, is limited. A qualitative explorative descriptive study of women's experiences with the pathway and the associated early transition home will help to inform clinical practice and the research evidence base. ⋯ This study takes a woman-centred perspective adding to both literature and practice.