Closing Parkinson’s care gaps is aim of new, free course for providers
Course is part of the Parkinson’s Foundation Education Series for Community Providers
To help offset the lack of specialty care in Parkinson’s disease, the Parkinson’s Foundation is offering providers who aren’t experts in the progressive neurodegenerative disorder access to the virtual course, “Utilizing Quality Measures to Improve Parkinson’s Care: What Every Neurologist Needs to Know.”
The course, which is free but requires registration, is available now. It targets neurologists, primary care physicians, physician assistants, and nurses, and seeks to give providers who don’t specialize in the disease a glimpse into how its assessments are conducted by movement disorder specialists using the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN) 2020 Quality Measures for Parkinson’s. These measures aim to provide patients with optimal assessments and care.
The course is part of the Parkinson’s Foundation Education Series for Community Providers the organization introduced last year to address challenges in access to specialized care. The series is part of the organization’s Learning Lab and provides Interprofessional Continuing Education credits.
Nearly 1 million U.S. residents are thought to live with Parkinson’s, and roughly 90,000 are diagnosed annually. Yet, nearly 40% receive no care from a clinician with advanced neurological disease and disorders training, according to the foundation.
A primary reason is the shortage of movement disorder specialists — neurologists with specialized movement disorders training. There are only about 600 such specialists in the U.S., which causes serious gaps in care.
Addressing Parkinson’s care gaps
“This makes it incredibly challenging for people with PD to access specialized care in their local area, and many do not have access at all,” Eli Pollard, chief training and education officer for the Parkinson’s Foundation, said in an email Parkinson’s News Today. “People living with PD who receive expert care have better outcomes and everyone deserves a fair opportunity to live a high-quality, long life with PD. Through the Education Series for Community Providers, the Parkinson’s Foundation is working to address these disparities in care and improve health outcomes by ensuring that all healthcare workers in medically underserved communities — from general physicians to hospital staff — are prepared to treat people with PD.”
People living with PD who receive expert care have better outcomes and everyone deserves a fair opportunity to live a high-quality, long life with PD.
Parkinson’s can cause a range of motor symptoms, such as abnormally slow movements (bradykinesia), tremor, muscle rigidity, and problems with balance and walking. Patients may also have involuntary movements and abnormal muscle contractions. The disorder can also cause nonmotor symptoms, including depression, cognitive impairment, hallucinations or delusions, and sleep problems.
In the course, providers will be able to exercise their skills through branch logic and will gain decision-making tools they can use in treatment plans. The syllabus includes a pre-knowledge quiz and three videos: “Quality Measures for Clinicians: A review of AAN’s Parkinson’s Disease Measurement Set,” “Quality Measures in Action: A Glimpse into a Parkinson’s Assessment with Anna,” and “Quality Measures in Action: A Glimpse into a Parkinson’s Assessment with Larry.”
The course includes an interactive session on branch logic, plus references, summaries, resources, and a post-knowledge quiz. At its conclusion, participants should be able to explain the importance of incorporating quality measures for optimal patient care, and question patients appropriately about motor and nonmotor symptoms. They should also be able to analyze findings from patient assessments to develop an inter-professional care approach for maintaining patients’ physical functions and managing disease progression.
The foundation’s Education Series for Community Providers seeks to improve treatment and outcomes for people with Parkinson’s by helping healthcare professionals better understand how to care for them from diagnosis to management, enhance their understanding of the roles of those involved in developing personalized care plans, and underscore the importance of inter-professional communication and coordination in Parkinson’s care.
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