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The future of surgical nursing and enhanced recovery programmes

Mitchell, M

Authors

M Mitchell



Abstract

Medical advances have led to the development of an increasing number of enhanced recovery programmes for patients undergoing surgery in the United Kingdom. Enhanced recovery is concerned with helping patients to get better sooner after an operation by following a meticulous regime of care. Such programmes encompass explicit, medically-driven protocols, although their practical application is largely undertaken by nurses. However, beyond the professional knowledge and skills required to aid such programmes, nursing knowledge has so far contributed little to this rapidly developing aspect of surgery. Nevertheless, nursing has much to offer by the future creation of centrally co-ordinated, surgical nursing units focussing on the patients’ holistic experience. This article intends to briefly describe enhanced recovery, identify aspects of nursing knowledge that can have a positive influence and outline practical changes to assist the development of such programmes thereby benefiting all patients undergoing elective surgery.

Citation

Mitchell, M. (2011). The future of surgical nursing and enhanced recovery programmes. British Journal of Nursing, 20(16), 978-984

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Sep 1, 2011
Deposit Date Sep 19, 2011
Journal British Journal of Nursing
Print ISSN 0966-0461
Publisher MA Healthcare
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 20
Issue 16
Pages 978-984
Keywords Enhanced recovery, modernizing practices, nurses’ role, psychological care, sociological care, information provision
Publisher URL http://www.internurse.com/cgi-bin/go.pl/library/article.cgi?uid=86078;article=BJN_20_16_978_984;format=pdf