Prehabilitation: what it is and why it is important in gastrointestinal nursing

This paper provides an overview of the Association of Coloproctology Nurses' (ACPN) plenary session on prehabilitation, delivered at the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain & Ireland (ACPGBI) Annual Meeting in July 2022. Prehabilitation is defined as a ‘process of enhancing the functional capacity of the individual to enable him/her to withstand an incoming stressor’ (Mayo et al, 2011). For this plenary session, the incoming stressor of interest was colorectal surgery. The session comprised of five presentations, from speakers with experience of the topic, providing a range of perspectives.  

The session was chaired by Gabrielle Thorpe, chair of the ACPN, and Tracey Becker, an ACPN committee member.