A questionnaire survey was conducted using e-mail to investigate the application status of ERAS in Korea and its implementation by their institution. The perceptions of ERAS by medical staff and the factors that interfered with the application of ERAS were investigated.
From July 2017 to March 2019, a questionnaire was sent by e-mail to members of the KSSMN. This consisted of 41 questions divided into three parts to investigate 1) respondents’ prior knowledge and understanding of ERAS, 2) actual components of ERAS and its clinical application, and 3) performance and preference of the respondents to ERAS. The items were categorized into “high acceptance” when more than 75% of respondents answered “yes”, or the items into “low acceptance” when less than 25% answered “no”.
Overall, 86 participants completed the survey. Of these, 59(68.6%) had prior knowledge of ERAS and 29 (33.7%) applied ERAS clinically. Seventy (81.4%) and 40 (46.5%) answered that ERAS would have a positive effect on shortening the hospital stay and reducing the number of complications. Seventy four (86%) indicated that they would implement ERAS in the future. The factors impeding the implementation of ERAS were a lack of understanding of physicians and a shortage of manpower and resources for ERAS.
The ERAS implementation rate and awareness level of surgeons were low, but the positive expectations of the clinical efficacy of ERAS and the wiliness to accept were high. Overall, it would be necessary to cooperate with institutions to improve the manpower and resources, and supplement the education to overcome the lack of awareness, which has been pointed out as an obstacle to the implementation of ERAS.
Patients in prolonged intensive care unit stay were vulnerable to malnutrition which deteriorated recovery and postoperative outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate nutritional status in surgical patients entering the intensive care unit, and to identify the risk factors that influence prolonged intensive care unit stay.
From January 2016 to June 2018, 740 patients (age≥18 years) who were admitted to our surgical intensive care unit after abdominal surgery with general anesthesia (≥4 hours) were enrolled. Patients were classified into short-term stay group (≤4 days) and long-term stay group (>4 days). These groups were analyzed and compared with patient factors and postoperative outcomes and the multivariate analysis was performed to assess the risk factors for prolonged intensive care unit stay.
A total of 119 patients were analyzed. The univariate and multivariate analysis showed that dialysis status (Odds ratio 7.684, 95% confidence interval 1.038∼1.103, P=0.013), total lymphocyte count (Odds ratio 0.999, 95% confidence interval 0.998∼1.000, P=0.047), and intraoperative transfusion (Odds ratio 1.002, 95% confidence interval 1.001∼1.002, P=0.000) were associated with prolonged intensive care unit stay. Lone-term stay group were significantly longer hospital stay and higher hospital morbidity rate than short-term stay group.
Patients with risk factors of prolonged intensive care unit stay included dialysis status, low total lymphocyte count, a large amount of transfusion would be more interested and the active intervention such as early nutritional evaluation and adequate nutritional support should be needed.
Enteral feeding is strongly recommended for critically ill patients since it can enhance the immunologic function, which serves as a host defense mechanism against inflammation or metabolic response to stress. Herein, we investigated nutritional status and estimated the adequacy of the nutritional supply for acutely ill patients admitted to the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) after a major operation.
From February to October 2016, patients admitted and stayed over 48 hours after major surgical procedures at SICU in Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital were reviewed. The nutritional parameters and surgical outcomes were compared according to the status of nutritional support.
A total of 220 patients composed of 130 males (59.1%) and 90 females (40.9%) were enrolled, and mean age was 61.4±13.6 years. All patients were classified into two groups according to nutritional status, which was assessed by the ratio of total delivered calories to total required calories (D/R); group A (54 cases, 24.5%, D/R≥0.7) versus group B (166 cases, 75.5%, D/R<0.7). In multivariate analysis, incision in the lower abdomen (Odds Ratio 2.277, P=0.078), absence of NST consultation (Odds Ratio 2.728, P=0.011), and not receive minimal invasive surgery (Odds Ratio 3.518, P=0.001) were independent risk factors associated with poor nutritional status.
Clinicians should pay more attention to patients who had an incision in the lower abdomen or did not receive minimal invasive surgery or NST consultation, which would be predisposing factors for nutritional insufficiency resulting in postoperative morbidities.