Cornwall Ontario –  Dr. Wasseem Moussa, a general surgeon, immigrated from Egypt in 1989 and came to Cornwall in 2000. Recently, Dr. Moussa had an abstract published in the Canadian Journal of Surgery about research he did here at Cornwall Hospital.

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is a set of perioperative protocols that expedites recovery from surgery. Dr. Moussa sat in on a lecture led by Professor Henrik Kehlet, who was the pioneer in this research and change in current post-surgical protocols. Dr. Moussa implemented these learnings, and proceeded to monitor patient progress, length of stay in the hospital after surgery and recovery time.

“Change is a scary thing; people don’t want to contradict practices that have been done for a long time.” Dr. Moussa explains that continuous learning is necessary in any profession to stay abreast of the trends. “We are getting people better, faster. This not only helps the patients get home quicker, but helps our occupancy levels as well.”

Of the 50 surgical cases, only 3 were re-admitted. Often, the patients are asking to go home as early as 36 hours after surgery! Dr. Moussa gives credit to the nursing staff who help him with these protocols: “Community hospitals, like Cornwall’s can do great things! This research and abstract proves it and puts us on the map.”