Enhanced Recovery Canada
Helping patients feel better and get home quicker after surgery is vital – especially during the pandemic, when many procedures have been delayed and our healthcare system faces major pressures.
Enhanced Recovery Canada surgical pathways reduce complications and support shorter hospital stays and safer transitions after surgery.
Led by Healthcare Excellence Canada and partners, the pathways are based on six core principles:
- patient and family engagement
- nutrition management
- fluid and hydration management
- early mobility and physical activity
- surgical best practices
- pain management with fewer narcotics (multi-modal opioid-sparing analgesia)
Key resources
- Access the gynecologic surgery resources
- Access the orthopaedic inpatient and outpatient hip and knee replacement surgery resources
- Access the colorectal surgery resources:
- For patients
- For providers
Help Patients Feel Better and Recover Faster
Enhanced Recovery Canada surgical pathways are now best practice. And they put the quadruple aim well within reach.
If implemented consistently, the pathways can improve patient outcomes by reducing complications after surgery. They can enhance the patient experience by supporting engagement through the surgical journey, and improve the provider experience by helping clinicians and patients work as a coordinated team. The surgical pathways can also lower costs by reducing complications and hospital length of stay.
Internationally, data demonstrates that Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols – which are the basis of our surgical pathways in Canada – have resulted in shorter length of hospital stay by 30% to 50% and similar reductions in complications, while readmissions and costs are reduced.
Enhanced Recovery Canada’s colorectal surgical pathway and complementary patient resources have been implemented in seven sites across Canada: in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, two in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Now we’ve launched new resources for gynecologic surgery, and orthopaedic inpatient and outpatient hip and knee replacement surgery. We’re calling on surgical teams across the country, to review and use these surgical pathways and complementary patient resources to help patients feel better and recover faster. Implementation resources are also available to help you and your organization put the pathways into practice.
Additional Resources and Information
Access resources for leaders about Enhanced Recovery Canada
