Quality of recovery (QoR) is an important concept in the perioperative care of a patient. Assessment of QoR has prognostic and economic importance, with clinical and research applications and improves patient satisfaction in the perioperative period. It, therefore, behooves the perioperative clinician to have a good understanding of the concept of QoR to better manage the perioperative patient.

This literature review will discuss the concept of QoR, the development thereof, and explore the different assessments of QoR. Special attention is paid to the Quality of Recovery 40 (QoR-40) and the Quality of Recovery 15 (QoR-15) assessment tools, with further attention to development, composition, validation, and subsequent usage of the QoR-15. Furthermore, factors that have been found to influence QoR and the importance of measuring QoR will be discussed.