Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols standardize perioperative care to accelerate patient recovery and minimize surgical stress. By shifting from traditional NPO practices to preoperative carbohydrate loading and implementing multimodal, non-opioid analgesic regimens—including acetaminophen, gabapentin, and celecoxib—clinicians can significantly attenuate the neuroendocrine stress response. Intraoperative management emphasizes Total Intravenous Anesthesia (TIVA) and regional techniques like epidurals or transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks to preserve immune function and reduce opioid-related complications such as ileus and nausea. Dr. Chris Wu, a professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at Johns Hopkins, highlights that these evidence-based pathways have successfully reduced hospital length of stay by approximately two days and lowered surgical site infection rates from 15% to 5% in colorectal surgery. This multidisciplinary approach fosters collaboration between surgical, nursing, and anesthesia teams, ultimately improving patient outcomes and satisfaction.
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