ParkinsonCare telenursing case history in print

We are delighted to announce the publication of a further article highlighting the benefits of ParkinsonCare, the Parkinson’s telenursing service, recently launched in Italy and spearheaded by Dr Fancesca Mancini.

The innovative tool has been used as a daily approach to specialist nursing care for people with Parkinson's, covering medication, lifestyle and environment (fig 1).

Figure 3: The ParkinsonCare patient journey, from Francesca’s slidedeck for the webinar 24.04.20

The tool, in use for just over a year, has been of especial benefit during the coronavirus pandemic, enabling shielding and isolated people with Parkinson's to receive ongoing, high quality care from their own homes and within the parameters of safe social distancing set out by government.

Dr Mancini explained to the live webinar audience on 27th April that the announcement of lockdown on 11th March had prompted a huge uptake in patients for the ParkinsonCare tool, with a rapid increase in calls, enrollment of patients across the whole of Italy - 265 new patients in the first month. Collaboration with a number of other organisations to remotely care for all Parkinson’s patients has resulted in coordination with local services and multidisciplinary teams, expanding the care initially offered by the tool and creating a multidimensional service.

Now, a new paper detailing a case history of ParkinsonCare use highlights the benefits and positive outcomes from use of the digital service. The paper summarises the incredible outcomes for one person living with Parkinson's in receipt of the service:

'During a three month intervention period which comprised 13 telephone contacts, the patient reported a remarkable reduction in number of falls, from 99 falls per three months to 3 falls per three months; and a reduction in non-motor symptoms.'

Parkinson’s Academy were instrumental in the development of this innovative service, with faculty members Sue Thomas, Louise Ebenezer and Jane Price developing the care modules used for the triage service based on their UK experiences of working with people with Parkinson’s.

Dr Mancini talks in depth about the remarkable tool and the impact it has made to people with Parkinson's in Italy during the coronavirus pandemic in one of our webinars (52.50 onwards).

The full case history reported in the paper can be found online, whilst a summary of Dr Mancini's thoughts on ParkinsonCare during COVID-19 and detailed slides looking at the tool, are all freely available online. This is part of a webinar reviewing an international perspective of COVID-19 in Parkinson's where she is joined by Professor Bas Bloem, and specialist nurse Louise Ebenezer.