Affiliation:
1. Department of General Surgery, Koc University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkiye
2. Vehbi Koc Foundation American Hospital, Istanbul, Turkiye
Abstract
Abstract
The ERAS guidelines include recommendations for preoperative care, including patient education and counseling, nutritional and physical activity assessment, psychological rehabilitation, lifestyle recommendations, and metabolic assessment of comorbidities. Based on comprehensive assessments, establishing an individualized preoperative care and prehabilitation program is crucial to acquire better postoperative outcomes. Since the release of the latest ERAS guidelines for colorectal surgery in 2018, research on preoperative care and prehabilitation has been accelerating. To standardize this process, it is essential to establish a multidisciplinary team and a prehabilitation unit that includes healthcare professionals from various medical subspecialties and reinforces communication through an institutional and collaborative approach. The positive impact of such preoperative interventions on the postoperative period has been demonstrated in many countries, leading to the establishment of prehabilitation units. However, such prehabilitation units are lacking in Turkiye, highlighting a significant gap that needs to be addressed.