Improving prehabilitation to give patients best preparation for treatment

Investigating patients and nurses views of how preparation for treatment works

Background

What is prehabilitation?

Prehabilitation involves patients preparing for cancer treatment to give themselves the best chance of success and recovery.

Patients undertake a prehabilitation programme which focuses on areas like their diet, lifestyle and mental health. 

Successful prehabilitation can mean patients can leave hospital quicker, cope better with side-effects and recover sooner.

About this project

• We want to find out what nurses views of prehabilitation (exercise advice, food advice and help with mental health) are and if they routinely discuss these with their patients.
• We will also examine information patients are being given about exercise, diet, mental health, stopping smoking and cutting down on alcohol before and during treatment.
• The project will then ask patients if they received any information around these factors, if they liked it, if it was helpful, what their overall experience was and if they would change the information.
• We are looking for people with experience of chemotherapy prior to surgery to help us design the project. If you are interested, please contact Tessa on [email protected]