Surgical Clinics is proud to announce the December 2018 publication of a comprehensive volume on Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS). ERAS is a set of protocols used by the surgical team to help ensure a patient has the best possible outcome from their surgery, and ERAS programs have been shown to be more safe and effective relative to traditional care. This issue presents 16 review articles spanning the range of ERAS: from implementation strategies, quality metrics, economics, and outcomes, to specific areas of surgery such as hepatobiliary, colorectal, and urology. Other articles focus on ERAS in community hospitals, nursing programs, and surgical disparities.

“Enhanced recovery programs have taken their place as one of the most innovative developments in the history of surgery. From the pioneering work of Professor Henrik Kehlet in the 1990s to the remarkable diffusion of enhanced recovery principles across the world in the 21^st century, countless people have benefited from these innovations. The beauty of enhanced recovery lies in its simple, integrative and patient-focused approach to providing the best-evidence surgical care to all patients. Supported by a growing mountain of evidence, these principles have been applied under the names of ERPs (Enhanced Recovery Programs) and ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) and continue to spread from single academic institutions to entire healthcare systems. The inevitable transformation in surgical culture required for enhanced recovery to work has also been impactful and priceless.”

From the Preface, by Editor Daniel I. Chu, MD, FACS. Dr. Chu is an Associate Professor in the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Department of Surgery, at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Follow him on Twitter: @DChu80

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery: Past Present, and Future

Surgical Clinics of North America December 2018, Volume 98, number 6

www.surgical.theclinics.com