Examination of pre-surgical allied health referrals in cancer patients at a regional Australian hospital.

Abstract

There has been a recent international call to action for key stakeholders to create the infrastructure and cultural adaptations needed so that all people living with and beyond cancer can be as active as is possible. Among the reasons for this is a lack of clarity on the part of those who work in oncology clinical settings of their role in assessing, advising, and referring patients to exercise.

PURPOSE: To conduct a retrospective sample audit of allied health referral for breast, prostate and colorectal cancer diagnoses scheduled for surgery.

METHODS: A SQUIRE compliant retrospective study was conducted on a representative sample of electronic medical record (EMR) data harvested from the files of (n=100) patients diagnosed with either breast, colorectal and prostate cancer and scheduled for surgery at a regional hospital in Victoria, Australia. Association between ‘time in surgery’ (mins-1) and number Allied Health (exercise physiology) sessions were performed using Pearson product-moment correlation.

RESULTS: 62% of cancer referrals attended at least one allied health appointment. Bivariate comparison of referral to allied health revealed strong: prostate (r2=0.78), small/moderate: breast (r2=0.24), and no (r2=0.07) association between surgical time and frequency of allied health attendance amongst cancer diagnoses requiring surgery.

CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary results from a small sample of pre-surgical exercise physiology referrals, indicate that breast, and prostate cancer diagnoses requiring surgery can achieve benefit from compliance with referral to Allied Health session, whereas colorectal cancer diagnoses are less clear.