INTRODUCTION:The objective of this study is to compare the impact of an early Enhanced Recovery After Cardiac Surgery (ERACS) program to traditional perioperative cardiac surgery care on hospital length. The application of ERAS to cardiac surgery is a recent development (2017) and there have only been a small number of studies published in this field to date. ERACS research aims to challenge traditional paradigms in cardiac surgery to improve patient outcomes and experiences and to reduce associated health care costs.METHODS: This single-center, pilot study is observational with 100 patients in both the ERAS group (prospectively collected) and the traditional perioperative care group (historical cohort). The ERACS program implemented consists of a bundle of 20 interventions in the pre-, intra-, and postoperative periods. This study (n¼200) has 94% power to detect a difference of 2-days in hospital length of stay, the primary endpoint. Secondary outcomes that were measured include readmission rate in 30 days, hospitalization costs, and rates of perioperative complications.

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