ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIMS
Enhanced recovery after surgery protocols may reduce postoperative complications and the length of hospital stay. The aim of this study is to evaluate patient satisfaction after elective colorectal surgery with an enhanced recovery protocol (ERP).
MATERIAL and METHODS
Our first 119 consecutive patients who participated in an elective colorectal surgery with an ERP were interviewed via telephone 4 days after discharge. The questionnaire survey used was performed by the Workgroup of Guidelines of Enhanced Recovery for Abdominal Surgery and validated by the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality of Spain. We asked the patients about the quality of the preoperative information given by the surgeon and anesthetists, the treatment received by the medical staff, the degree of satisfaction during hospital stay, pain and other issues. We analyzed whether there was any relationship between these variables and their degree of satisfaction.
RESULTS
A total of 118 (99.2%) patients were very satisfied or satisfied and would be operated again according to the guidelines of this protocol. Ninety-four (79%) patients considered the information given by the surgeon and 99 (83.2%) the information given by the anesthetists to be very good. Ninety-four (77.69%) patients rated their pain during admission as ≤3 with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The variables that were statistically associated with a higher degree of satisfaction were a low level of education, the high quality of the information received by health personnel prior to surgery, their subjective feeling that they were not going to get up from the sofa or start to walk, eat, or drink too soon after the surgery, and a good pain control reported by patients as ≤3.
CONCLUSION
Most of patients after an ERP for elective colorectal surgery were very satisfied or satisfied with the assistance received during their hospital stay.