Table 3 Summary of eligibility criteria

Patient population

Adults undergoing spinal surgical procedures.

Pediatric population undergoing spinal surgical procedures.

Patients undergoing non-surgical management of spinal conditions

Traumatic patients without surgery

Intervention-treatment

Twenty-two pre-defined components of an ERSS pathway (as outlined in Table 1) alone or in combination with another component

Other proposed ERSS pathways incorporating one or more pre-defined interventions will be included.

Comparator

Standard of care, no treatment, or placebo

Outcomes

Mortality from all causes

Morbidity including: pulmonary, cardiac and renal complication rates, surgical complication rates (including readmissions)

Patient reported experiences and outcomes (PROMs/PREMS): pain-related outcomes (e.g., pain score rating, pain management satisfaction), quality of care (readiness for surgery, quality of care patient scores, quality of recovery after surgery),

Health service-related outcomes: length of stay (in hospital, in ICU) and economic/financial outcomes (e.g., costs of patient stay)

Study design

Systematic reviews, meta-analysis

Randomized controlled trials

Non-randomized studies

Observational studies (cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, case series)

Case reports

Study setting

Inpatient care (including patients whose condition requires admission to a hospital same-day discharge surgical)

Outpatient clinics, medical, and non-surgical management of spinal conditions

Timing

Perioperative process-preadmission, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative setting

Studies incorporating long-term (greater than three months) postoperative rehabilitation