How to recover better and faster after major surgery?

Having received the label once again, the intercommunal hospital center offers the population of the Est-Var region comprehensive care. Dr. Ramona Dumbrava, an anesthesiologist and resuscitator, and head of the "Enhanced Recovery After Surgery" (RAAC) program, has just obtained, along with the medical, paramedical, and administrative teams at the Fréjus Saint-Raphaël hospital, this title of excellence, recognition of the quality of care by the "Francophone Group for Enhanced Rehabilitation After Surgery" (GRACE).

"Everything must be taken into account and each case carefully studied. It's very interesting work, and I've really noticed a marked improvement in the length of hospital stays, which are shorter and safer," emphasized Dr. Ramona Dumbrava.

For total hip and knee replacements

"The patient sees the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, and a nurse coordinates the journey, provides information on the hospitalization process, answers questions, monitors progress, then checks that the patient has all prescriptions, physiotherapy sessions, information on their diet, nutritional supplements... But also on returning home," she continued.

"The nurse reserves, if necessary, a place in a follow-up care facility. She contacts the patient by telephone several times in the month following the operation to check that everything is going well in the healing process."

For the expert: "The RAAC's mission is to optimize the care of patients requiring major surgeries such as orthopedics with total hip and knee replacements, colorectal, bariatric and gynecological surgeries."

"The goal is to reduce hospitalization time while maintaining a high level of quality care. Techniques have advanced, and the RAAC allows patients to be less stressed and better understand procedures," explained Dr. Dumbrava.

For specialists, it is not a question of rushing the exit but of avoiding an unnecessarily prolonged stay and thus limiting the risks of nosocomial infections.

The Raac principle, developed in the 1990s by the Danish team of Professor Henrik Kehlet, is a global approach to the patient, through a series of measures promoting the early recovery of their abilities after surgery.

Get more involved to recover better

The patient becomes an active participant in their own care and becomes more independent. They participate by organizing the stages of their recovery with professionals, planning their discharge from the hospital by returning home or entering a rehabilitation center.

"All the actions implemented offer the patient the opportunity to recover more quickly thanks to their involvement, with the team of professionals always at their side, who think step by step."

Surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, nursing assistants and physiotherapists are involved in this personalized program to ensure that post-operative care is less complicated, less painful, less stressful, shorter and more comfortable.

"The more active we are, the more we prepare and anticipate our discharge, and the more we reduce the consequences of surgical stress, the faster we recover. And the fewer complications there are." The RAAC allows patients to avoid feeling abandoned to their fate.