title: Quality of life at home and satisfaction of patients after enhanced recovery protocol for colorectal surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality of life of patients at home after an enhanced recovery protocol (ERP) for surgery has been least studied especially in elderly patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our first 41 patients entered in the colorectal GRACE database were interviewed through telephone about their postoperative stress, fatigue, pain, difficulty in feeding, home autonomy, and satisfaction. We compared the responses of the elderly patients (>70 years, n = 19) with those of the younger patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The time between the surgery and the questionnaire was 79 ± 48 days. Early return was experienced as stressful by ±20% of the patients. Fatigue and pain were low (respectively: simple numerical scale [SNS] = 4.2 ± 3.2 and 2.5 ± 2.9). When present, pain was relieved by the prescribed treatment. One-third of the patients described some difficulty in feeding. Fifty percent of the patients felt completely autonomous when returned at home, 80% attributed the rapid recovery of autonomy to the ERP. Finally, 87% were globally satisfied (SNS: 8.5 ± 1.0). The characteristics of the 'elderly' group (77 ± 6 years) and their questionnaire responses were similar to those of the younger patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite some limitations (retrospective, different time between surgery and the telephone survey), our study suggests that quality of life at home after ERP for colorectal surgery is very satisfactory for over 80% of patients. Furthermore, this study confirms that elderly patients benefit from an ERP for colorectal surgery like younger patients.
authors.affiliation: a Department of anaesthesia reanimation , CHU Liège, domaine du Sart Tilman, University of Liège, Liège , Belgium.
authors.forename: Aurélien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Partoune
authors.affiliation: b Service of digestive surgery , CHU Liège, domaine du Sart Tilman, University of Liège, Liège , Belgium.|c GRACE (Groupe francophone de Réhabilitation Après ChirurgiE) , Baumont , France.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coimbra
authors.affiliation: a Department of anaesthesia reanimation , CHU Liège, domaine du Sart Tilman, University of Liège, Liège , Belgium.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Brichant
authors.affiliation: a Department of anaesthesia reanimation , CHU Liège, domaine du Sart Tilman, University of Liège, Liège , Belgium.|c GRACE (Groupe francophone de Réhabilitation Après ChirurgiE) , Baumont , France.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Joris
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003106:Colon / Q000601:surgery*; D013505:Digestive System Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012007:Rectum / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Enhanced rehabilitation; elderly; postoperative quality of life; satisfaction