Outcomes of Fast-Track Program after Colorectal Cancer Surgery - Comparison with Conventional Method

As interest in cost reduction and early discharge has grown, due to increased medical costs and the introduction of the Diagnosis-Related Group system, the concept of a fast-track program has emerged in an effort to reduce the duration of hospital stays. Fast-track discharge, which is also known as “enhanced recovery after surgery,” can easily be misunderstood as simply meaning early oral intake and early discharge. However, the fast-track discharge concept includes a wide variety of factors, such as reduced surgical stress responses, increased recovery speed, reduced complication rates, and cost reduction without compromising patient safety. The concept also encompasses various strategies to enhance patient status and recovery, in an effort to achieve faster discharge while reducing the likelihood of surgical complications or readmission. Regarding the specific steps, fast-track discharge consists of pre-operative education, a meal after surgery, and pain control. The pre-operative education increases the patients’ commitment to recovery by reducing their fears and enhancing their understanding of the surgery, as the nurses and doctors describe the processes from admission to discharge. Another feature of fast-track discharge is minimizing the fasting period before and after surgery, which is based on the theory that resuming meals early after surgery hastens the recovery of physical rhythms. In this context, communication should involve the sharing of information regarding the overall process with the nursing team, and effective post-surgical explanations for the patients; these steps can increase the rate of postoperative recovery and facilitate the patient’s return to everyday life. With the introduction of a fast-track program at our institution, our surgical team has developed a care map that covers the entire fast-track process, from personalized pre-operative education to postoperative care and education. In our institution, surgical nurses are responsible for various tasks, including preand post-operative care, drug administration and intravenous administration management, transfusion care, oxygen therapy, communicating with patients and caregivers, and telephone counseling. Therefore, we aimed to increase their work efficiency by developing and applying a planned and standardized care Outcomes of Fast-Track Program after Colorectal Cancer Surgery Comparison with Conventional Method