Enhanced recovery for cesarean delivery leads to no difference in length of stay, decreased opioid use and lower infection rates.

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study was to report surgical outcomes for cesarean delivery (CD) patients following the implementation of an Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) pathway based on the ERAS Society recommendations. The primary outcome for which the study was powered was the length of stay (LOS). METHODS: This IRB-approved cohort study was conducted at a single tertiary-care labor and delivery unit and utilized a pre-post intervention design. Our ERAS for CD protocol was designed using the ERAS Society recommendations and implemented globally for every patient admitted to the labor and delivery unit including both scheduled and unscheduled cases. The study was designed to have at least 85% power to detect a 6-h difference in length of stay (LOS) between the pre-intervention and post-intervention cohorts, assuming a standard deviation of 18 h. A total of 339 records were included for data analysis, 170 in the pre-intervention cohort and 169 in the post-intervention cohort. To assess the difference between groups with respect to the primary outcome of LOS, linear regression was used with and without adjusting for covariates. Differences in dichotomous secondary outcomes were assessed using binary logistic regression. Differences in continuous secondary outcomes were assessed via a two-sample t-test or Wilcoxon rank sum test. Individual components of protocol adherence were compared using chi-square tests. RESULTS: Mean LOS was 80.5 ± 22.9 h and 82.3 ± 28.0 h, pre- and post-intervention respectively. There was no difference in LOS between the 2 cohorts (difference of means = 1.8 h; 95% confidence interval (CI): (-3.7, 7.3); p = .51). Cesarean procedure infection decreased from 11.8% pre-intervention to 5.3% post-intervention, corresponding to a 58% decrease in odds of cesarean procedure infection (odds ratio (OR)=0.42; 95% CI: (0.19, 0.96); p = .04). Inpatient opioid use also significantly decreased in the post-intervention cohort with a median MME per 12 h-period of 5.1 (25th percentile = 2.2, 75th percentile = 7.8) pre-intervention and 3.3 (25th percentile = 1.0, 75th percentile = 7.6) post-intervention (p = .04). CONCLUSION: The results of this study support the implementation of an ERAS for CD protocol based on ERAS Society recommendations as evidenced by the statistically significant decrease observed in both procedure-related infection rates and inpatient opioid use. We did not find a significant difference in LOS, which leaves room for further investigation into factors that impact LOS after CD.

Opioid use after cesarean: a cohort study comparing combined versus separate oxycodone and acetaminophen regimens.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether an inpatient post-cesarean analgesic regimen which separated oxycodone and acetaminophen resulted in less inpatient opioid use, when compared to a regimen using combination medications containing both acetaminophen and oxycodone in a cohort including patients of all gestational ages, acuity levels, and modes of operative anesthesia. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study which was conducted at a single tertiary care center Labor and Delivery unit. Data were collected via retrospective chart review, and a total of 170 records were examined with a final N = 150. Inclusion criteria were all patients over the age of 18, and >23.0 weeks gestational age, who had a singleton or twin cesarean delivery regardless of their mode of operative anesthesia and whether or not they received intrathecal opioid at time of delivery. Exclusion criteria were pregnancies of higher-level multiples (triplets or greater), prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and patients who received both combination oxycodone-acetaminophen and separately administered oxycodone. For analysis patients were classified into two groups: the "Combined Medication" group representing patients who received combination oxycodone-acetaminophen medication only (n = 83) and the "Separate Medication" group representing patients who received oxycodone and acetaminophen separately (n = 67). Differences between the groups with respect to opioid use and acetaminophen use were assessed. RESULTS: The primary outcome was inpatient opioid medication use per 12-h period in intravenous morphine mg equivalents (MME). Patients received an average of 4.6 ± 3.5 MME IV morphine per 12 h in the Separate Medication group and 5.7 ± 3.7 MME IV morphine per 12 h in the Combined Medication group. When controlled for several covariates, the Separate Medication group took significantly fewer MME per 12-h period (mean difference = -1.2, 95% CI: (-2.3, -0.1), p = .04). There was no appreciable difference in acetaminophen utilization between groups. CONCLUSIONS: An analgesic regimen where oxycodone is ordered separately from acetaminophen is associated with reduced inpatient opioid medication use in patients of all gestational ages, acuity levels, and modes of operative anesthesia.