Objective: To establish a telephone nursing service led by a Parkinson Disease Nurse Specialists (PDNS) and monitor the one-year experience in a tertiary referral Italian hospital (Movement Disorder Unit, Padova University Hospital, Italy).

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease, which causes both motor and non-motor symptoms. In light of the complexity of this pathology, it would be desirable to consider a multidisciplinary approach to its management, including the contribution of specially trained PDNS. They can operate also by telenursing intervention, providing support to patients and caregivers. The service can address symptom issues, the onset of complications, therapeutic indications and coordination of a multidisciplinary network.

Method: As from 01/12/2020, a PDNS-managed telephone care service was provided, operating 6 hours per week. Data on the reasons for calls and related management were collected and categorized.

Results: In one year, 310 calls were received, from 168 patients. Data from 13 calls were lost and the remaining 297 were received for information about the centre or procedures (n=98), therapy requests (n=63), non-motor symptoms (n=59), bureaucratic requests (n=36), other symptoms (n=15), visit request (n=9), motor symptoms (n=9), information about the illness (n=6) and psychologic support (n=2). Interventions have been managed with autonomous nursing care (n=112), referral to neurologist (n=109), nursing care and referral (n=38), referral to other professional (n=19), referral to neuropsychologist (n=17) and referral to GP (n=2).

Conclusion: Most calls were handled independently by the PDNS and were primarily related to requests of information about the centre or procedures (n=52), non-motor symptoms (n=18), and bureaucratic requests (n=15). The other most involved professional was the neurologist, mainly regarding requests about pharmacological treatment (n=37) and occurrence of new non-motor symptoms (n=21). The contribution of other professionals including neuropsychologists, physiotherapists, study coordinator and GP has also been important, highlighting the need for interprofessional collaboration in the management of PD patients. Even if temporarily limited (6 hours a week) these findings demonstrate that telephone assistance by PDNS ensures continuity of care and support to patients and caregivers in the various stages of the disease.

References: Antonini, A., Tinazzi, M., Abbruzzese, G., Berardelli, A., Chaudhuri, K. R., Defazio, G., Ferreira, J., Martinez-Martin, P., Trenkwalder, C., & Rascol, O. (2018). Pain in Parkinson’s disease: facts and uncertainties. European Journal of Neurology, 25(7). https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.13624
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Thomas, S., Mancini, F., Ebenezer, L., Price, J., Carta, T., Cordasco, J., Tedesco, C., & Gillett, S. (2020). Parkinson’s disease and the COVID-19 pandemic: responding to patient need with nurse-led telemedicine. British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 16(3). https://doi.org/10.12968/bjnn.2020.16.3.131
van der Marck, M. A., Kalf, J. G., Sturkenboom, I. H. W. M., Nijkrake, M. J., Munneke, M., & Bloem, B. R. (2009). Multidisciplinary care for patients with Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, 15 Suppl 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1353-8020(09)70819-3

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/telephone-nursing-care-for-parkinsons-patients-one-year-experience-in-a-tertiary-referral-hospital-in-italy/