Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about post-operative care. And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic,

as always you can follow along at zero-de.com slash post dash op or in the general

surgery section of the zero to finals surgery book. So let's get straight into it. Immediately after

an operation, the patient will go to the recovery room and be monitored closely whilst they regain

consciousness from the

anaesthetic. Once they're conscious and stable they can return to the ward. Patients may be transferred

to HDU or ICU depending on their condition and their monitoring requirements after the operation.

Let's talk about enhanced recovery.

Enhanced recovery aims to get the patient back to their pre-operative condition as quickly as possible

by encouraging them to be independent, mobilize early and take an appropriate diet.

There's increased nutritional requirements after the physiological stress of surgery,

so they need to have sufficient calories.

The aim is to discharge a patient as soon as possible,

as this leads to better outcomes for the patient.

The principles of enhanced recovery are good preparation for surgery, for example a healthy diet and exercise.

Using minimally invasive surgery when possible, for example, key health surgery or using local anaesthetic to do the operation,

using adequate analgesia, having good nutritional support around

the time of surgery, having an early return to an oral diet, taking food by mouth, and also an

oral fluid intake, getting the patient off IV fluids as quickly as possible, mobilizing the patient early,

avoiding drains and nasagastric or NG tubes wherever possible,

and then removing the catheter as early as possible,

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