“Our goal in surgical oncology is, of course, to treat the cancer for a cure, but to do it in a safe manner so the patient is able to recover and resume their normal living activities that they had before their surgery,” ONS member Lisa Parks, MS, APRN-CNP, ANP-BC, inpatient nurse practitioner of hepatobiliary surgery at the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Division of Surgical Oncology, at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, OH, told Stephanie Jardine, BSN, RN, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a discussion on prehabilitation and preoperative assessments for patients with cancer undergoing surgery, implications of and advancements in cancer surgery, and the interprofessional collaboration that takes place in this scenario. You can earn free NCPD contact hours after listening to this episode by completing the evaluation linked below. Music Credit: "Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Earn 0.75 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by August 19, 2024. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Episode Notes Complete this evaluation for free NCPD. Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Episode 58: The Power of Cancer Rehabilitation Episode 66: Updates in Surgical Oncology—ONS Congress Episode 185: Surgical Oncology: Where We’ve Come and Where We’re Going Episode 212: When Cancer Care Gets Complex: Those Other Oncologic Emergencies ONS Voice article: The Power of Prehabilitation Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Perioperative Care Implementation: Evidence-Based Practice for Patients With Pancreaticoduodenectomy Using the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Guidelines Use of Robotics in Oncology Surgery Oncology Nursing Forum article: Cancer Prehabilitation Programs and Their Effects on Quality of Life ONS books: Surgical Oncology Nursing Gastrointestinal Cancer Care for Oncology Nurses Cancer Basics (second edition) ONS’s Get Up, Get Moving Dana-Farber Cancer Institute article: How ‘Prehabilitation’ Can Benefit Cancer Patients American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation article: Cancer Prehabilitation: An Opportunity to Decrease Treatment-Related Morbidity, Increase Cancer Treatment Options, and Improve Physical and Psychological Health Outcomes Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics article: Nutritional Screening in a Cancer Prehabilitation Programme: A Cohort Study National Cancer Institute article: Surgery to Treat Cancer Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Society guidelines To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org. Highlights From Today’s Episode “Prehabilitation for surgery is probably one of the most underutilized areas of the surgical process. The goal of prehabilitation is to initiate coordinated, preoperative, optimized strategies. During the patient’s preoperative assessment by the oncology nurse in the clinic, as well as the provider, risk factors are identified that can be addressed for a better surgical outcome.” Timestamp (TS) 02:27 “Any solid tumor patient that is having an oncological surgery can benefit from prehabilitation. It really depends on their overall assessment preoperatively. . . . And certainly, any lengthy surgery that is going to require the patient to be under anesthesia for prolonged time, the patient would benefit from being optimized prior to a surgical procedure.” TS 07:43 “When a patient is initially seen by a surgical oncologist in a pre-op setting, all of these assessments are completed by the onc