Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Colorectal surgery is a common surgery for the treatment of colon and rectal cancers as well as other bowel diseases. Recovery from colorectal surgery is difficult because of the many potential negative side effects. These side effects include surgical complications, long hospital stays, and slow recovery of pre-surgery fitness. It usually takes several months for colorectal surgery patients to recover the strength required to return to their typical daily activities. Prehabilitation is a new program for surgery designed to help patients experience better surgical recoveries by preparing them weeks before their operation with nutrition, anxiety reduction, and exercise advice to make better use of their waiting time for surgery. We think prehabilitation programs could be improved if targeted to patients' personalized risk factors for surgery. It might not be necessary for every patient to receive nutrition, exercise and anxiety-reduction advice. Some patients might benefit more from help with nutrition than help with exercise or vice versa. It is important that we figure out which patients benefit the most from the different aspects of prehabilitation programs so that we can use healthcare resources wisely, use patients' time wisely, and ensure the right patient receives the right care. We want to develop a tool that identifies patients who are at risk of having bad surgical recoveries and use this tool to develop a better prehabilitation program that truly meets patient needs and helps patients recover well.