Introduction: Several enhanced recovery protocols after surgery showed a benefit for postoperative recovery and reduction of hospital lengths of stay. Very few studies evaluated patient's satisfaction about these enhanced recovery protocols. The aim of this study was to evaluate patient's satisfaction about our enhanced recovery protocol for robotic-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN).
Methods: A validated survey EORTC In PATSAT32 with a specific questionnaire about protocol was sent to the first patients included in the enhanced recovery protocol for RAPN. The survey was sent after the postoperative consultation at postoperative day 30. Responses were anonymous. Satisfaction's scores for EORTC questionnaire were calculated for each dimension with Likert's method. Scores were transformed linearly into a scale ranging from 0 to 100, where 100 represent the highest level of care satisfaction (EORTC method).
Results: A total of 21 patients (50%) returned the completed questionnaire. The overall satisfaction score was 75.1% (37.3; 100) in the EORTC survey. In total, 71.4% of patients (n=15) were satisfied with the discharge at postoperative day 2 (POD2) and 5 patients (23.8%) found this premature. None of the patients had a negative impression on the clinical pathway. The average overall evaluation on the protocol by patients, on a satisfaction scale of 1 to 10 was 8.9/10.
Conclusion: In this study, patients included in the enhanced recovery protocol after RAPN were very satisfied with their pre-, per- and postoperative care. Given patients satisfaction, reduction of LOS, patient's safety and the medicoeconomic advantage, these enhanced recovery protocol have become a priority to develop and evaluate. More large studies are needed to assess the patient's experience with these clinical pathways.
Level of evidence: 4.
Keywords: Cancer du rein; Enhanced recovery; Oncologie; Oncology; Quality of life; Qualité de vie; Renal cancer; Réhabilitation précoce.
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