Enhanced recovery protocols and the new frontiers in surgical specialties: emergency and pediatric surgery

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs have been shown, in many types of operations and surgical specialties, to be the gold standard of perioperative patient care. This statement is sustained by strong evidence on the significant reduction of postoperative morbidity, duration of hospitalization, health-related costs, nurse working load, and improved patient satisfaction when the programs are fully implemented. However, in some fields of surgery, the evidence is still moderate because data collection and systematic research has begun few years ago. Emergency and pediatric surgery are a good example. This narrative review emphasis the available and published data and highlights the limitations of current research. Yet, several ERAS key domains both in emergency and pediatric surgery may be already implemented because the level of evidence is consolidated despite considering the peculiarity of these populations and the technical diversity of some operations.