Enhanced Recovery After Cesarean Section

Caesarean section is one of most common surgeries worldwide and in Egypt. The Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey 2014 revealed a rising caesarean section rate .

Many of these procedures are elective allowing time for preparation of the patient for surgery.

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) is a multimodal, multi disciplinary, evidence based approach to surgical care with an ultimate goal to enhance recovery and improve maternal and neonatal outcome .

This is done through optimizing multiple aspects of patient care to enhance recovery and so accelerate (facilitate) earlier discharge (decrease length of stay, decrease opioids use and encourage breastfeeding) .

A comparative study in Egypt found ERAS to be effective in controlling perioperative gastrointestinal symptoms, pain control and encourages early ambulation with offering earlier resumption of intestinal motility, higher satisfaction and fewer days of admission .

The clinical audit is a tool for assessing the compliance of current practice with the standard of care. In an audit, both process of care compliance and outcome of care can be measured to highlight gaps that need to be addressed by the institution . Enhanced Recovery After Surgery society issued Guidelines for elective Cesarean Section care .

They include elements in preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative care. Compliance with each of these items was associated with improved maternal or neonatal outcome and a better recovery experience .