Bridging the gap: the role of nurses in promoting exercise for cancer survivors

Over one million people in Australia are living with or have lived with cancer. Of these, less than 10% engage in recommended amounts of exercise (75 to 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise and two or more sessions of resistance training, per week) during and after their treatment. Nurses are instrumental in providing comprehensive care and support to cancer survivors and encouraging healthy lifestyle behaviours. Their role in patient care positions nurses as key advocates for promoting exercise as an important component of cancer care, assessing and monitoring cancer survivors’ needs for exercise referrals, offering individualised and evidence-based exercise guidance, and referring cancer survivors to suitable exercise programs or specialists.

Exercise, when appropriately prescribed and monitored, is safe for most cancer survivors...