Enhanced recovery after surgery: An anesthesiologist's perspective

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are a combination of multimodal evidence-based strategies, applied to the conventional perioperative techniques, to reduce postoperative complications and to achieve early recovery. These strategies or protocols, require a dedicated and organized team effort for their implementation to enable early discharge and thus reduce the length of hospital stay. Anesthesiologists play an important role in facilitating these protocols as some of the key elements such as preoperative patient preparation and assessment, perioperative fluid management, and perioperative pain relief are handled by them. This article discusses in detail the various components of ERAS and the anesthesiologist's role in implementing them.