Get Up, Get Moving

Help Your Patients Get Up, Get Moving

What Is Get Up, Get Moving?

Get Up, Get Moving is a national quality campaign developed by ONS member experts to encourage oncology nurses to implement an evidence-based change in practice and recommend physical activity to patients with cancer during cancer treatment. 

Aim

The aim of this national quality campaign is to provide the education and resources necessary to increase the frequency with which oncology nurses recommend individualized physical activity to patients with cancer. 

Goal

Oncology nurses will provide individualized physical recommendations for physical activity to 100,000 or more patients receiving any treatment modality—chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy—for cancer.

Why Is Physical Activity Important for Patients With Cancer?

Multiple organizations, including the American Cancer Society, American College of Sports Medicine, U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, and ONS, recommend physical activity for cancer survivors in active treatment and during the survivorship phase of cancer care. 

national pilot study of the ONS Quality Measures found less than 10% of a sample of patients receiving IV chemotherapy or in the first 12 months after treatment for breast cancer were given recommendations for physical activity as a part of cancer care to manage cancer and treatment related symptoms.

Research evidence supports that physical activity during cancer treatment significantly decreases disease and treatment-related fatigue. Along with fatigue, this intervention may improve quality of life by

  • Helping to manage anxiety and depression
  • Improving sleep quality
  • Managing lymphedema
  • Maintaining bone and muscle strength
  • Decreasing recurrence.

Become a Get Up, Get Moving Champion

View our nurse and patient teaching videos and incorporate these resources into your cancer treatment education programs.

To request permission to reuse or adapt these videos into your teaching resources at no cost, please email pubpermissions@ons.org. Additionally, ONS welcomes the opportunity to license our intellectual property.

Physical Activity Recommendation Toolkit 

Helpful Tools and Forms

Putting Evidence Into Practice Resource