I am going to work on my evidence based practice project to aid recovery outcomes for adult abdom ...
I am going to work on my evidence based practice project to aid recovery outcomes for adult abdominal surgery patients by introducing Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol. Clinical concerns centered around consistency in ERAS practice following abdominal surgery, notably with regard to early ambulation, early oral intake, multimodal pain management, patient education, and standardized postoperative nursing care. This is a front-facing problem because it is precise, patient-centered, and has a direct link to clinical outcome. When ERAS practices are not consistently followed, patients may experience delayed recovery, higher levels of post-operative complications, prolonged hospital length of stay, increased expense, and decreased satisfaction. The organization chosen for this project is the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics from the University of Miami Health System, UHealth. Undertaking their University of Miami Health System and Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine mission, they will be a leading academic medical center, with an emphasis on world-class compassionate care, life-changing medical discoveries, personalized health education and community health promotion (University of Miami Health System, 2026). UHealth Nursing also focuses on excellence delivered patient-focused and family-centered care, preventing and managing illness by providing, caring care of high quality, using nursing principles to optimize patient outcomes (University of Miami Health System, 2026). This mission and philosophy is closely affiliated with an ERAS because ERAS is oriented towards the improvement of recovery, reduction of complications, improvement of patient engagement in care, and standardisation of evidence-based practices. This initiative is consistent with the organisation’s mission as it aims to enhance surgical recovery with evidence-based care, interdisciplinary cooperation, and patient-centered care. An academic medical institution, the organization bears the responsibility to translate research into practice. ERAS facilitates this purpose by applying evidence-based approach to perioperative and postoperative care. Specifically, ERAS-based interventions, including the development of early ambulation, early nutrition, opioid-sparing pain management, patient education, and standardized care pathways have been linked to shorter length of stay and fewer surgical complications following surgery compared to controls (Sauro et al., 2024). Through the application of organized ERAS education for nurses, the project contributes to safe, reliable and evidence-based nursing care at the bedside. The project is also likely to enhance corporate performance. ERAS adherence will provide for better patient care and outcomes from a quality point of view -eg earlier ambulation, better pain treatment, less complications and faster return to bowel function. Operationally, decreasing length of stay will lead to improved bed availability/patient flow/resource utilization. From an economy of scale standpoint, less complications and fewer bedtimes could result in lower cost and assist in value-based care objectives. Recent ERAS literature still suggests that ERAS protocols versus conventional care are better at reducing the length of stay and recovery in the hospital setting (Kannan et al., 2025). As such, this project lends itself to the site’s business model since it facilitates quality outcomes, cost containment, patient satisfaction, and efficient use of hospital assets. PICOT elements for this project are as follows. The population includes registered nurses providing care to adult patients undergoing abdominal surgery. The intervention is an evidence-based ERAS education program with a structured nature and specific focus on postoperative nursing responsibilities including early ambulation, early oral intake, pain management, patient education, and documentation of ERAS compliance. The comparison is standard practice or standard operating procedure normal education without formal ERAS educational intervention. The outcome is improved ERAS adherence among nursing professionals caring for adult abdominal surgery patients. The time frame is eight weeks. The PICOT question is as follows: In registered nurses caring for adult abdominal surgery patients, how does a structured ERAS education program compared with usual education affect ERAS adherence over eight weeks? This PICOT question is focused and possible to answer in one population, one intervention, one comparison, one measurable outcome, and realistic duration. The project does not try to transform the entire process of surgical care. Rather, it is concerned with nursing adherence to fundamental ERAS practices directly related to patient recovery. As a DNP student, this particular project, with a focus on translating evidence into practice, will provide me the opportunity to utilize the three foundational competencies of leadership, systems thinking, and evidence translation to help close a practice gap. It also presents an opportunity to enhance the consistency of care offered to patients undergoing abdominal surgery while maximizing the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics mission and performance goals. References Kannan, V., Shanmuganathan, S., & Kumar, R. (2025). Impact of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols on postoperative outcomes: A review of length of stay and recovery indicators. *Cureus, 17*(1), e11737126. Sauro, K. M., Smith, C., Ibadin, S., & Santana, M. J. (2024). Enhanced Recovery After Surgery guidelines and hospital length of stay and complications: A systematic review and meta-analysis. *JAMA Network Open, 7*(6), e2417310. University of Miami Health System. (2026). *Mission and values*. UHealth, University of Miami Health System. University of Miami Health System. (2026). *Our mission, vision, values and philosophy*. UHealth Nursing.
