Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

More Canadians are living after cancer. However, most cancer survivors face many side effects that reduces their physical function and quality of life. Exercise programs can help reduce these effects, and physiotherapists (PTs) are healthcare professionals that are experts in this field. Worldwide, PTs are recommended to be part of cancer care teams, but they are not in Canada. Healthcare navigators help patients access the care they need and can improve patient outcomes and reduce clinical costs. We conducted a review to explore and summarize the role of PTs as navigators in settings where individuals are receiving cancer treatment. Our review included thirteen papers. Roles of PT navigators included triaging patients after assessment, exercise planning, referral to other services, barrier identification, providing education, and goal setting. PT navigators saw patients within the first month of treatment and followed up at various times (e.g., weekly, monthly, as needed). Also, we found that providing onsite services, support from the medical team, and no extra cost to the patient led to role success. Challenges to role success included lack of health system funding, lack of medical team knowledge of rehabilitation, and extra patient costs. Overall, our findings can be used for future research to develop a PT navigator role to be trialed in Canada.