Martin Health System is piloting a new initiative designed to enhance the recovery process for surgical patients. For the past six months, two Martin Medical Group surgeons, Phillip Moyer, M.D., and Matthew Peebles, M.D., have been using the ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) approach with the goal of improving patient outcomes and safely decreasing hospital stays. This approach is currently in place at Tradition Medical Center in Port St. Lucie, but is expected to eventually be expanded to other Martin Health hospitals.

 

ERAS was pioneered in Denmark and England and has recently been adopted by several major medical centers in the United States including Duke University. It represents a paradigm shift in perioperative care by considering all areas of the patient’s journey through the surgical process. It has shown to reduce the length of hospital stays by more than 30 percent and reduce postoperative complications by up to 50 percent. Reported benefits also include reduced exposure to hospital infection and fewer readmissions.

 

The ERAS approach provides guidance to all involved in perioperative care, helping them to work as a well-coordinated team to provide the best care. Moyer and Peebles work in concert with anesthesiologists and hospitalists at Tradition Medical Center to address the key factors that affect patient recovery: pain, gut dysfunction and immobilization.

Martin Health System is piloting a new initiative designed to enhance the recovery process for surgical patients. For the past six months, two Martin Medical Group surgeons, Phillip Moyer, M.D., and Matthew Peebles, M.D., have been using the ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) approach with the goal of improving patient outcomes and safely decreasing hospital stays. This approach is currently in place at Tradition Medical Center in Port St. Lucie, but is expected to eventually be expanded to other Martin Health hospitals.

 

ERAS was pioneered in Denmark and England and has recently been adopted by several major medical centers in the United States including Duke University. It represents a paradigm shift in perioperative care by considering all areas of the patient’s journey through the surgical process. It has shown to reduce the length of hospital stays by more than 30 percent and reduce postoperative complications by up to 50 percent. Reported benefits also include reduced exposure to hospital infection and fewer readmissions.

 

The ERAS approach provides guidance to all involved in perioperative care, helping them to work as a well-coordinated team to provide the best care. Moyer and Peebles work in concert with anesthesiologists and hospitalists at Tradition Medical Center to address the key factors that affect patient recovery: pain, gut dysfunction and immobilization.