Implementation of Enhanced Recovery Protocols for Gastrointestinal Surgery in Children: Practical Tools From Key Stakeholders.

Introduction: We explored patient, caregiver, and provider recommendations for development of a tool kit to implement enhanced recovery protocols (ERPs) for pediatric patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. ERPs are widely used for adults to decrease hospital length of stay, hospital costs, and complications while hastening patient recovery after surgery. With limited data available for ERPs among pediatric populations informed modification of adult ERPs is needed to facilitate successful implementation for pediatric surgery.

A qualitative examination of barriers and facilitators of pediatric enhanced recovery protocol implementation among 18 pediatric surgery services.

Background: Enhanced recovery protocols (ERPs) are an evidence-based intervention to optimize post-surgical recovery. Several studies have demonstrated that the use of an ERP for gastrointestinal surgery results in decreased length of stay, shortened time to a regular diet, and fewer administered opioids, while also trending toward lower complication and 30-day readmission rates. Yet, implementation of ERPs in pediatric surgery is lagging compared to adult surgery.

Age- and Sex-Specific Needs for Children Undergoing Inflammatory Bowel Disease Surgery: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: The use of enhanced recovery protocols (ERP) is extending to pediatric surgical populations, such as patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Given the variation in age- and sex-specific characteristics of pediatric IBD patients, it is important to understand the unique needs of subgroups, such as male versus female or preadolescent versus older patients, when implementing ERPs. We gathered clinician, patient, and caregiver perspectives on age- and sex-specific needs for children undergoing IBD surgery.