Objective: To determine if the improvements in confidence to provide and coordinate patient care and understanding of individual and other team member roles among interprofessional healthcare teams reported after Parkinson’s Foundation (PF) Team Training (TT) are maintained long-term.

Background: PF TT offers training to interprofessional healthcare teams to better coordinate and improve care. Significant improvements were previously reported 6 months after TT in confidence in providing care and improving quality of life in persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and care partners, as well as in understanding individual and other team member roles.

Method: Healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, occupational, physical, and speech therapists, dieticians, psychologists, social workers, pharmacists, and other team members that attended PF TT in October 2022 completed 4 surveys to assess learning and TT impact. The surveys were completed prior to and immediately after, 6 months after, and 1 year after TT.  For each survey, the attendees rated their confidence or knowledge in a scale of 1 to 7 in which a response of 1 represented the highest level of confidence or knowledge and 7 represented the lowest level.

Results: A total of 64 healthcare professionals from both new and established PD interprofessional care programs completed surveys before and 1 year after TT.  There were significant improvements in the percentage of those that felt completely confident in various measures of providing care and team coordination that were reported immediately after TT and maintained throughout the 6 month and 1 year surveys (p<0.01). Improvements were seen in confidence to provide care to persons with PD (88%), confidence in working with a care partner of someone with PD (72%), ability to directly improve the quality of life for a person with PD (128%), knowledge about the individual’s role in the interprofessional care team (225%) and understanding of the role of each team member and how they can assist in the care of persons with PD (95%).

Conclusion: Parkinson’s Foundation Team Training resulted in significant and sustained improvements in healthcare professional confidence in caring for and working with persons with PD and their care partners, as well as in the understanding of individual and team member roles in the care of persons with PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/benefits-of-parkinsons-team-training-are-maintained-long-term/