NR 449 Week 3 Assignment_RUA_Topic Search Strategy Paper Enhanced Recovery After Surgery_ERAS

Topic Search Strategy Paper: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) This paper marks the first step in a team project focused on evidence-based practice in surgical care. Specifically, this assignment will outline the systematic search strategy used to find two recent primary research articles on the effectiveness of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols. By defining the problem, creating the clinical question using the PICOT framework, and detailing the search and refinement process, this paper lays the groundwork for a thorough review of this important practice area. Clinical Question Postoperative complications continue to be a major issue in adult surgery. They lead to significant illness, death, and costs for the healthcare system. Common perioperative care often includes long preoperative fasting, excessive intravenous fluid use, and delayed movement. These practices can unintentionally increase patient stress and lengthen recovery time. The risks tied to these traditional methods require a look at new, evidence-based strategies to improve patient outcomes. The magnitude of this problem is documented by current literature: postoperative complications can affect between 15-20% of general surgery patients (Madan et al., 2023). This leads to increased readmission rates and significantly increases the average patient length of stay. This extended recovery not only puts pressure on hospital resources but also raises the risk of hospital-acquired infections and deconditioning for patients. Reducing these avoidable complications and speeding up recovery is crucial for improving patient outcomes and achieving cost-effective care. This collaborative work aims to explore evidence-based strategies, specifically ERAS protocols, to reduce these risks and enhance patient recovery across various surgical specialties. using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to narrow the focus effectively. The primary broad search string used was ("ERAS" OR "Enhanced recovery after surgery") AND "Randomized control trial". This initial query, focused on the intervention and best evidence type, yielded an excessive 144,387 results across the selected databases, demonstrating the need for systematic refinement. The initial broad search was overwhelming, so a clear strategy was necessary to refine it. First, I set the Publication Date filter to 2020-2025. This ensured the evidence showed the most up-to-date practices and kept the result count at 144,387. Next, I filtered for Peer-reviewed Journals. This reduced the results to 97,253. Then, I limited the search to PubMed Central Open Access articles, which brought the number down to 14,713 relevant and accessible articles. In addition to these filters, I refined the search by adding PICOT-specific terms like "abdominal surgery" to focus on the population. I also used specific combinations like ("ERAS" AND "stoma reversal") and ("ERAS" AND "colorectal surgery") to pinpoint the two most relevant primary sources. Finally, I applied a time constraint of "within 30 days" during the final selection process. Through a systematic search, I identified two main research articles that are most relevant to the EBP topic of ERAS protocols in abdominal surgery. Both articles qualify as Level II evidence (Randomized Controlled Trials) and were published within the last five years. The first article, Madan, S., et al. (2023), "Comparison of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery