Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of a consultation preparation service (CPS) for Parkinson’s Disease patients and its effect on the patients’ experience during consultation.

Background: Many PD patients suffer from stress and anxiety and cannot describe their symptoms during their visit with their consulting neurologist. Furthermore, there are time constraints and physicians can only evaluate patient on the spot. With this limited information and exam treatment adjustments can be defective. In the Madrid PD Patient Association, a need to enhance the patient’s experience during consultation was detected and a Consultation Preparation Service (CPS) was proposed.

Method: The CPS report included a Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire (NMS-Quest) and a report from STAT-ON, an inertial waist-worn medical device that provides objective information on different motor symptoms, such as motor fluctuations, bradykinesia, dyskinesia, freezing of gait, and physical activity [1]. Patients diagnosed with PD and able to walk visited the Association 2-3 weeks before their doctor’s visit to receive the STAT-ON sensor, which was worn for 1 week. After this week, the STAT-ON report was generated and the NMS-Quest was completed by the patient. In that moment, a first semi-structured survey with 15 questions was completed by the patient about the experience of using STAT-ON. After the consultation, a second structured survey with 11 questions was administered about the experience in the CPS and their perception of neurologist actions in consultation.

Results: Seventy-one PD patients participated. All patients recommended the CPS and the use of STAT-ON. The experience of wearing STAT-ON was positive or very positive in 97.1% of patients and 56.3% of patients referred improved awareness of their symptoms. In the 2^nd survey, patients reported that 73.3% of neurologists received the CPS report positively and 50% of neurologists introduced a therapy adjustment. Patients declared improved perception of their doctor visit:  as 63.3% felt calmer, 48.3% felt safer, and 51.7% declared having more accurate information about their condition to report.

Conclusion: The CPS experience was perceived positively by the majority of PD patients as they felt more prepared and confident to face their doctor consultation. The information obtained by physicians was well received and resulted in some therapy adjustments.

References: [1] Rodríguez-Martín D, Cabestany J, Pérez-López C, Pie M, Calvet J, Samà A, et al. A New Paradigm in Parkinson’s Disease Evaluation With Wearable Medical Devices: A Review of STAT-ONTM. Front Neurol. 2022;13. doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.912343

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/a-pilot-study-to-prepare-patients-for-doctors-consultation-based-on-the-nms-quest-and-a-wearable-medical-device/