McGill University Health Centre presents Enhanced Recovery After Surgery research at SAGES 2016

In June 2015, we announced our Partnership with the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) to perform a study of an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) module on the SeamlessMD platform for in-hospital patient recovery. The study was funded by the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES).

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programs are a patient-centered approach to integrate evidence-based interventions into a coordinated, multidisciplinary care plan encompassing the entire perioperative pathway. A growing body of research has shown ERAS programs to significantly reduce hospital length of stay and patient morbidity for major surgery.We are excited to announce that not only has Phase 1 of the study been completed, but that the research performed by the MUHC team has been selected as a Poster of Distinction with a podium presentation for this week's Society of American Gastrointestinal & Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) Annual Meeting.Led by Dr. Liane Feldman, Director of the MUHC Steinberg-Bernstein Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery and Chair of the SAGES Enhanced Recovery task force, the goal of the study was to determine the ability of our ERAS in-hospital recovery program to improve patient adherence to ERAS care processes and reduce manual labour needed for ERAS data collection.In tech-savvy fashion, Dr. Feldman tweeted her team's Poster of the results last night:

Our #sages2016 poster showing patient app to monitor adherence & PROs in enhanced recovery pathway @joshuapliu pic.twitter.com/NEBl9bVwvl

— Liane Feldman MD (@lianefeldman) March 17, 2016

To summarize the results of the study:

• The study involved 45 patients undergoing colorectal surgery
• 89% of patients found the program helpful to achieve their daily recovery goals
• 76% of patients believed the program increased their motivation to recovery
• 87 Average Score on System Usability Scale (industry average = 68)
• High Agreement in data collection between our program and a human auditor (see Tweet for detailed results in Poster)

This is the first research ever done on the use of a patient application to improve adherence and data collection for patient-focused ERAS processes of care. This work is important because evidence suggests that the degree of patient adherence to ERAS processes of care correlates with degree of improvement in outcomes. In addition, many hospitals are challenged with the costs of proper data collection for their ERAS programs.The results of this study suggest that an in-hospital, ERAS-focused patient engagement program like ours can help hospitals to improve patient compliance with ERAS and measure the success of their ERAS program in a more cost-effective way.Congratulations again to Dr. Feldman and her outstanding team at the McGill University Health Centre. We are proud to work with such a forward-thinking group of clinicians and researchers, and we look forward to more innovation collaborations going forward!----About the Steinberg-Bernstein Centre for Minimally Invasive SurgeryThe Steinberg-Bernstein Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery was established at the Montreal General Hospital by a generous endowment from Florenz Steinberg Bernstein in 1995. The centre was developed to integrate the clinical, research, educational, and administrative activities in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) across the McGill University teaching hospitals.About SAGESThe mission of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) is to improve quality patient care through education, research, innovation and leadership, principally in gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgery. SAGES is a leading surgical society, representing a worldwide community of over 6,000 surgeons that can bring minimal access surgery, endoscopy and emerging techniques to patients worldwide. www.sages.orgAbout SeamlessMD (@SeamlessMD)Founded in 2012, SeamlessMD has emerged as a leader in healthcare technology. SeamlessMD provides a cloud-based, patient engagement solution for guiding patients through surgery. Available on smartphones, tablets and computers, patients are supported through preparation and recovery with timely reminders, checklists, interactive care plans and self-management tools. Patient generated data is transformed into clinical intelligence for healthcare providers to improve the patient experience, drive better outcomes and lower costs. The company serves surgery practices, specialty centers and hospitals in the U.S. and Canada and was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Healthcare in 2014. https://seamless.md/