The CanEAT cancer nutrition care pathway for people with cancer, carers and health professionals

Good nutrition is essential for all people with cancer. 3 out of 5 patients with cancer will have a nutrition symptom that is stopping them from eating well. At least 1 in 4 will develop malnutrition, up to 3 of 5 will develop sarcopenia and many patient experience cachexia. Optimal nutrition is crucial in preventing and treating these complex conditions and results in better health outcomes.

The CanEAT pathway (freely available via the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre - PMCC) provides you with evidence-based animations, factsheets and toolkits. Recent enhancements to its useability into a more interactive format, utilising experience-based co-design methodology, has seen the development of a suite of 46 new resources. Patients and carers are seeking credible information and view nutrition as very important but have not always felt supported by health professionals.  

Join Jenelle Loeliger (Head of Nutrition & Speech Pathology, PMCC) and Rebecca McIntosh (iCanEAT Project Officer & Senior Dietitian, PMCC) who will introduce the CanEAT pathway and help you navigate via HealthPathways and the PMCC webpage. 

Dr Jane Crowe (GP at Deepdene Clinic & Australian Prostate Cancer Centre) and Tanith Lamaro (Manager of Podiatry, Dietetics, Diabetes Nurse Education at Access Health and Community) will share their experiences of implementing these resources within their practices.

Speakers

Dr Jane Crowe

Dr Jane Crowe (GP at Deepdene Clinic & Australian Prostate Cancer Centre) will share her experience of implementing these resources within her clinical practice.

Jenelle Loeliger 

Jenelle is the joint Head of the Nutrition and Speech Pathology Department at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne and Project Manager for the iCanEAT project. Jenelle is an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian with clinical, management, project and research experience in the field of oncology. Jenelle has been involved in the development of national evidence based nutrition oncology guidelines and has provided leadership to the state-wide program of work, the Victorian Cancer Malnutrition Collaborative (VCMC) since 2011. 

Rebecca McIntosh 

Rebecca has over 15 years experience working as a dietitian across the acute, sub-acute and primary healthcare setting. She has previously lead two state-wide cancer malnutrition projects and was co-author of the Malnutrition in Victorian Cancer Services – Malnutrition Governance Toolkit. Within primary healthcare she has successfully implemented a sustainable multidisciplinary cancer survivorship model of care which has recently been expanded across the Eastern Region of Melbourne. Currently she works as Project Officer for the CanEAT project at PMCC, implementing the CanEAT nutrition care pathway which was co-designed to help people with cancer, carers and health professionals achieve and deliver optimal nutrition care.  

Tanith Lamaro

Tanith is a dietitian by background and currently the Manager of Podiatry, Dietetics, Diabetes Nurse Education at Access Health and Community and she will share her teams experience of implementing these resources within their practice.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, you will be able to: 

• Explain the role of nutrition in cancer care and it’s impact on patient outcomes 
• Identify clinical scenarios where cancer nutrition resources can be implemented 
• Demonstrate ability to access CanEAT pathway resources and apply these in a clinical practice setting to deliver evidence-based cancer nutrition care and information provision 
• List ‘real world’ practical tips that can be applied in clinical practice to implement resources