Rebecca Wyse
Scientific Series: May 22, 2024
The RecoverEsupport Program: digital intervention to implement ERAS behaviors and support patients prepare for and recover from their cancer surgery.
Worldwide, there are over 300 million major surgeries performed each year. International ‘Enhanced Recovery From Surgery’ (ERAS) guidelines include patient-led behaviours to reduce post-surgical complications and length of hospital stay, such as early mobilisation, and rapid resumption of feeding and fluids, and breathing and physiotherapy exercises. However, patients need support to adhere to these guidelines, and a digital health intervention (DHI) may be an effective, cost-effective, and scalable solution. In response, we co-designed the RecoverEsupport intervention (with researchers, clinicians and patients). RecoverEsupport consists of a website and SMS/email prompts to encourage patient self-management using evidence-based behaviour change strategies such as information provision, goal setting, skills training, behavioural self-monitoring and feedback, and prompts and cues. This presentation describes the RecoverEsupport support research program, which includes patient surveys, qualitative studies and 2 randomised controlled trials (currently in progress) targeting colorectal and breast cancer patients. Both trials aim to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the RecoverEsupport intervention. If effective, the RecoverEsupport intervention could be rapidly scaled up and/or adapted for other surgical patient groups.
At the end of this session, participants will:
To gain an understanding of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Guidelines.
To gain an understanding of how evidence-based behavioural change techniques can be applied to the ERAS guidelines.
To reflect on the facilitators and barriers to implementing digital health interventions that target patient behaviours in hospital.
Rebecca Wyse is a behavioural researcher who specialises in developing and evaluating digital behavioural interventions to support the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle (NSW, Australia). She is currently a research fellow with the Cancer Institute NSW and she also holds an honorary fellowship with the Heart Foundation of Australia. Her current research focuses on helping cancer patients better prepare for and recover from their surgery and their radiation therapy.
She has previously conducted prevention research across a range of risk factors for cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma and obesity, and has conducted effectiveness and implementation trials across a range of settings including hospitals, schools, childcare services and the home. Her interventions have been adapted for different population groups, adopted in state-wide prevention plans, rolled out across the Local Health District and reached thousands of NSW school students. She has received over $5 million in grant and fellowship funding and published almost 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts.