This piece is about optimizing the perioperative patient for Enhanced Recovery (ER). Hear from one of the pioneers of ER for laparoscopic colorectal surgery in the UK, over 15 years ago he was sending patients home in less than 24 hours having had laparoscopic right hemicolectomys!

This is the story of one of the roots of Enhanced Recovery adoption in the NHS. We also cover issues such as, the importance of pre-operative nutrition, gabapentinoids and, in a similar vein, low dose ketamine. Do such treatments require a frailty adjustment and what is the bigger picture as regards delirium?

Questions are taken from the audience; what is the value of lidocaine infusions? How does opioid minimisation fit into this picture? How practical are alternating dosages when it comes to analgesics in the US healthcare system?

Finally, there is an indepth discussion about anemia in the perioperative process.

Presented by Desiree Chappell and Monty Mythen with their guest Michael Scott, Professor and Division Director, Critical Care Anesthesiology- Virginia Commonwealth University