171 S General discussion agreement that mandates the developer to identify and correct any technical issues within an agreeable timeframe. Patient-centred colorectal surgical care Patients undergoing colorectal surgery are faced with processing information and coping with the surgical procedure, recovery, potential complications, and lifestyle adjustments.4 Transforming to a more patient-centred approach holds the potential to enhance patients' overall experience, promote treatment adherence, and improve outcomes.5-7 Medical applications can be employed to support colorectal surgical care on various aspects. These applications provide a sustainable solution by informing and guiding patient through in the colorectal pathway, empowering patients in their own care and recovery.8 Although stoma care is of critical importance to the well-being and quality of life of patients, they are only moderately satisfied with their received stoma care. They indicated several shortcomings in information provision and postoperative care and the need to be in contact with peer patients. It was expected that patients who were in an acute situation, and/or had stoma-related problems would mostly benefit from additional support from a mobile application. Surprisingly, analysis showed that patients in an acute operation setting did not experience more benefits from the Stoma App in comparison to those in an elective setting. The Stoma App improved the stoma-related quality of life one month postoperatively by 3.1. Although the clinical significance of this difference may be debatable, it should be acknowledged that the technical issues impeded the application’s full potential. Despite these issues, the demonstrated effectiveness suggest that the improvement in quality of life would have been more substantial if the application had not been hampered by technical issues. Given the established clinical evidence, minimal time commitment required from healthcare personnel to provide the application, and the resolution of previous technical issues, it is strongly recommended to integrate the application into standard stoma care pathways. Moreover, challenges persist in optimizing patient compliance within the colorectal surgical pathway in general. The ERAS App actively engaged patients in their own colorectal surgical care and recovery, resulting in a significant increase in patient compliance with the ERAS protocol. Although patient or clinical outcomes did not improve, the application represents an important initial step towards enhancing perioperative care for colorectal surgery patients. Especially so, when local implementation of the ERAS protocol and clinical outcomes differ across medical centres.9 Exploring the incorporation of dynamic recovery features or prehabilitation within the ERAS App can further enhance patient engagement with the ERAS protocol and potentially improve clinical outcomes. Nevertheless, implementing the current application in the colorectal pathway may benefits patients, and require minimal time from healthcare providers.
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