Montreal-based McGill University Health Centre’s (MUHC) Steinberg-Bernstein Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery and SeamlessMD have teamed-up to study a patient tablet app for Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS). Funded by the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), the study will determine whether SeamlessMD’s app can improve patient adherence to ERAS care processes, reduce manual labor needed for data auditing and improve patient outcomes.

In the first phase of the study, each patient will receive a tablet loaded with the app that will educate them about each day’s ERAS milestones and track their adherence. The application links education, recovery planning, and daily self-assessment to a plan of care, providing users with a self-auditing adherence to the ERAS protocol. The data collected will be available in real-time to the clinical team. The second phase of the study kicks in afterwards, involving a randomized control trial.

ERAS programs integrate evidence-based interventions into a coordinated, multidisciplinary care plan encompassing the entire preoperative pathway.ERAS programs integrate evidence-based interventions into a coordinated, multidisciplinary care plan encompassing the entire preoperative pathway. A growing body of research has shown that these programs significantly reduce hospital length of stay and patient morbidity for major surgery. However, it can be costly to hire a person to manually audit patient adherence to ERAS protocols. Instead, special ERAS modules can educate patients on their daily recovery milestones and rely on checklists to engage patients to achieve their goals.

The MUHC’s Steinberg-Bernstein Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery first implemented an ERAS program for colorectal surgery in 2006; it has also developed programs in thoracic, urologic, orthopedic and hepatobiliary surgery through a dedicated Surgical Recovery team.

[Via: HitConsultant]