We Need Leaders to Lead Progress; How to Be Successful in Change Management Within a Hospital Environment?

After learning about Fast Track surgery, many healthcare professionals become enthusiastic to implement new enhanced recovery protocols in their own practice to improve patient outcome. Although Fast Track protocols are evidence based and widely available in literature, standard use of enhanced recovery protocols is certainly not the case in every hospital. The question ‘Why is the patient still in hospital?’ should be central, if improvement of care pathways is being considered [1]. There are many clinical and logistical factors that keep patients in hospital after an operation, which can be analysed and targeted by using these evidence-based Fast Track protocols [2]. But why is the world so slow in adapting these improvements for patient outcome?