Spine Surgery and Home Again: The Nurse's Role in the Patient Journey

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs – also referred to as fast-track programs - are multidisciplinary, evidence-based perioperative pathways, designed to achieve early recovery for patients undergoing major surgery (Ali et al., 2018). ERAS utilises strategies to optimise the patient's condition for surgery and recovery. In particular, the aim is to achieve an earlier discharge from hospital for the patient and a more rapid resumption of normal activities after surgery, without an increase in complications or readmissions (Dietz et al., 2019). An essential element of ERAS programs is multidisciplinary collaboration between surgical, anaesthetic, nursing and allied health teams. While elements of ERAS may vary between surgical units and hospitals, there are many common features in the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative phases.

Minimally invasive spine surgery techniques and instrumentation have evolved rapidly over the past decade, and there is now a worldwide interest in ERAS programs for spine surgeries, including lumbar and cervical decompression and fusion procedures (Li et al., 2021). Nurses have a pivotal role in the successful implementation and sustainability of ERAS protocols because of their specialised knowledge and skill, and their constant presence throughout the patient care pathway (Wainwright et al., 2022). This publication presents learnings from the implementation of an ERAS program for minimally invasive spine surgery at Westmead Hospital, NSW.