Norwich Enhanced Recovery Programme vs. non-enhanced recovery following hip and knee replacement: A matched-cohort study ☆ Homa Arshad MB BChir MA FRCS (Tr & Orth) (Specialist Registrar, Trauma and Orthopaedics) a , Saravanan Royan MRCS (Clinical Fellow: Trauma

This study compared the early clinical outcomes and safety of the Norwich Enhanced Recovery Programme (NERP) and a non-enhanced recovery programme fol- lowing Total Hip Replacement (THR) and Total Knee Replacement (TKR). The NERP programme is a multi-componented nursing and multidisciplinary pre- and peri- operative recovery programme which harnesses elements of managing patient ex- pectation with education, pain control and early intensive rehabilitation. This new programme was compared with an age- and gender-matched cohort who followed the recovery pathway provided prior to the NERP regime. A total of 192 patients were reviewed. The results indicated that for THR and TKR hospital length of stay and re- quirement for in-patient rehabilitation was significantly lower following the NERP regime (p < 0.01). There was no significant difference between the groups in peri-operative complications. These results provide encouraging findings that this nursing and