How to teach ERAS protocols: surgical residents’ perspectives and perioperative practices for breast surgery patients

PURPOSE: Breast enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols emphasize multimodal analgesia to expedite home recovery, but variable implementation remains. This study examines how residents learn and use ERAS protocols, how they conceptualize pain management, and what influences breast surgery patients’ same-day discharges. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with surgical residents following their breast surgery rotation using an interview guide adapted from existing pain management literature. Interviews were transcribed, de-identified, and independently inductively coded by two researchers. A codebook was developed and refined using the constant comparative method. Codes were grouped into categories and explored for thematic analysis. RESULTS: Twelve interviews were completed with plastic and general surgery residents. Ultimately, 365 primary codes were organized into 26 parent codes, with a Cohen’s kappa of 0.93. A total of six themes were identified. Three themes described how participants learn through a mixture of templated care, formal education, and informal experiential learning. Two themes delineated how residents would teach breast surgery ERAS: by emphasizing buy-in and connecting the impetus behind ERAS with daily workflow implementation. One theme illustrated how a patient-centered culture impacts postoperative management and same-day discharges. CONCLUSIONS: Residents describe learning breast surgery ERAS and postoperative pain management by imitating their seniors, observing patient encounters, completing templated orders, and translating concepts from other ERAS services more so than from formal lectures. When implementing breast ERAS protocols, it is important to consider how informal learning and local culture influence pain management and discharge practices. Ultimately, residents believe in ERAS and often request further educational tools to better connect the daily how-to of breast ERAS pathways with the why behind the enhanced recovery principles.