Educating and Easing Interdisciplinary Care Teams to Treat Parkinson Disease: Eli Pollard

WATCH TIME: 4 minutes

"We’re bringing in speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, and dentists to help put that program together. Every course is a little bit different. I think there’s value in very single part of the 6-part series."

Parkinson disease (PD) is one of the most complex neurodegenerative disorders that causes a variety of symptoms including tremors, muscle stiffness, slowness of movement, impaired balance, depression, difficulty swallowing, constipation, and many others. The symptoms and rate of progression in PD can differ among individuals, and have a major impact on quality of life. Those in the field understand the importance of an interdisciplinary team approach to the treatment of patients with PD, which was part of the mission behind the Parkinson’s Foundation’s new education series.

Launched in November 2022, the series includes 6 free online courses offering vital PD information for care teams serving communities that are medically underserved. A problem seen across several neurology clinical areas, there are significantly fewer movement disorder specialists than patients with PD, raising the importance of interdisciplinary care.

In an interview with NeurologyLive^®, Eli Pollard, chief training and education officer for the Parkinson’s Foundation, provided perspective on the range of community providers who can benefit from this series. Additionally, she spoke about the most troubling symptoms patients face and why a group of well-rounded clinicians are needed to tackle such issues.

REFERENCE
1. Willis AW, Roberts E, Beck JC, et al. Incidence of Parkinson disease in North America. npj Parkinsons Dis. 2022;8:170. doi:10.1038/s41531-022-00410-y