John Hopkins Will Share Care Guidelines With 750 U.S. Hospitals

According to an article published this week in the Baltimore Sun, the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality was recently awarded a $16 million contract that aims to improve surgical care for patients across the United States.

The contracts itself will connect doctors at Johns Hopkins Medicine with 750 other U.S. hospitals by sharing guidelines that detail how Hopkins typically provides care to surgical patients. It’s an effort that focuses on safety and preventative measures, while helping to establish a more universal standard of care “before, during and after surgeries.”

Hopkins first adopted these patient care guidelines back in 2013—professionally known as ERAS—which are “enhanced recovery” protocols that start from the moment a surgeon begins the operation, and last until the patient is discharged. Already widely implemented across Europe, ERAS are thought to reduce complications that may arise in surgery, while decreasing the length of the hospital stay for patients nationwide.

The program, which is also in collaboration with the American College of Surgeons, marks a seminal move in working to standardize a critical part of the surgical process. And considering successful ERA protocols prize coordination amongst surgeons, nurses and anesthetists, it’s a model that could represent a more collaborative effort throughout the medical industry in years to come.

“Too often, patients suffer complications and prolonged hospitalizations after surgery, although the steps to prevent these results are known,” said Peter Pronovost, director of the Armstrong Institute, in a recent report on the topic. “This program brings these recommended practices together into one coordinated, unified program where everyone—clinicians, patients and their loved ones—understand what they must do for the best possible outcome.”