"They're comforted by that,"
says Nina Costilla, MSN, RN-BC,
the hospital's nurse manager of GI
services. "They like hearing that
they're going to be OK."
She also points out that
patients who understand pain
management protocols realize
they won't be pumped full of opi-
oids and are therefore more like-
ly to respond to other forms of
non-opioid analgesia.
Before Presbyterian implemented its ERAS pathway, patients com-
plained about receiving inadequate pain management. They said they
had no knowledge of their care plan and didn't know what to expect
on the day of surgery and during the initial days of recovery. They're
now active participants in their own care and show up for surgery
understanding exactly about how their pain will be controlled.
"They don't arrive asking for opioids," says Ms. Costilla, "because
we address and discuss that long before they arrive in the OR."
Patients who are more informed before surgery and more comfort-
able afterward are generally more satisfied. That's borne out at
Presbyterian Hospital, where patient satisfaction scores have steadily
climbed from 72% to 78% in the 18 months since they began their jour-
ney down the ERAS pathway.
Not done yet
Presbyterian Hospital recently launched a mobile phone app that
sends patients reminders about the elements of the ERAS pathway
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 5 1
"We want to get
surgical patients into
and out of the hospital
with a reasonable
amount of pain that
they'd be able to
manage at home."
— Nikita Preston, BSN, RN