New ward at TTSH takes a different approach for recovery

It facilitates faster discharge as patients eat and walk earlier than the norm after surgery

- Ariel Yu

One new ward at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) is marching to a different beat.

Piloted since February, it encourages patients to get out of their beds to move about, and start drinking and eating earlier than the norm after surgery. It has shown that this approach enables patients to recover and get discharged more quickly.

Patients also end up paying less, generally, and their early discharge reduces the strain on the hospital system.

The Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (Eras) ward also looks different. On the floor, from one end to the other, is a decal designed to look like a running track in a sports stadium.

Near the nurses' station is a communal space where two or three patients can sit to chat and read newspapers.

Next to the communal space is an activity corner where patients are encouraged to do light exercises.

During meal times, patients can gather to eat at a common dining table set up in each cubicle near their beds.

There are 36 beds in the new ward, and 135 patients have been admitted there since February after colorectal, bariatric or breast reconstruction surgery.

Patients from urology, head and neck operations, and other general surgery have also been admitted to the Eras ward to benefit from the standardised care by Eras-trained nurses and features of the ward.

About 97.5 per cent of patients have started drinking and eating, and about 98 per cent of them have been able to get out of bed, in the first 24 hours after surgery.

Early discharge means cost savings for patients in this new ward, where charges are the same as in a normal ward.