Parkinson & Movement Disorder (PMD) Alliance Announces the Release of Sleep Disturbance in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease, A Continuing Medical Education (CME) Course for Advanced Practice Providers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: January 28, 2022
CONTACT: Debbie Rich, PMD Alliance Director, Community Development 800-256-0966 or debbie@pmdalliance.org

As part of PMD Alliance’s APProviders™ Consortium, PMD Alliance offers free, monthly CME courses for Advanced Practice Providers (APPs)by APPs in movement and related disorders. The APProviders™ Consortium addresses an unmet need, a lack of access to continuing medical education specific to movement disorders for APPs—Nurse Practitioners (NP) and Physician Assistants (PA). By releasing these courses, PMD Alliance is equipping APPs with resources to best serve their patients and further their work in movement and related disorders. This is one of many services provided to APPs through our APProviders™ Consortium.

The latest CME course released by PMD Alliance is Sleep Disturbance in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease.

About Sleep Disturbance in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease
It’s estimated that approximately 930,000 Americans live with Parkinson disease. Up to 98% of them experience sleep disturbance (SD), which can include excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), insomnia, sleep fragmentation (waking up multiple times a night), nocturnal motor features, dream enactment, restless leg syndrome, or obstructive sleep apnea.

Sleep disturbance (SD) is one of the most common and debilitating non-motor manifestations of Parkinson disease, intensifying disease-related disabilities of motor and non-motor symptoms. In spite of this, it’s often under-recognized and under-addressed by healthcare professionals. Adding to the confusion is that there isn’t a standardized approach to assessing sleep difficulties, making it harder to target treatment appropriately.

In this course, learners will acquire a deeper understanding not only of the importance and prevalence of sleep disturbances in patients with movement disorders; they’ll explore how to screen for SD and offer solutions. The course’s learning objectives are:

• Describe the prevalence and variety of sleep disturbance in patients with Parkinson disease.
• Recognize the importance of sleep in neurodegeneration.
• Classify screening tools for sleep disturbance.
• Employ Parkinson disease specific screening tools such as PDSS – 2 in clinical practice.
• Manage sleep disturbance in patients with Parkinson disease.
• Evaluate patient perspectives on sleep and the correlation with quality of life.

Faculty member Jenny Nguyen, MSN, FNP-C, from Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, explains that sleep is key on many levels. “Sleep enables the brain to rest and [allows for] the regeneration of neurons and neurotransmitters.” Parkinson disease or not, healthy sleep means a healthier brain. For APPs in movement and related disorders, understanding and learning how to best screen for sleep disturbance is crucial to patient wellbeing. When sleep disturbance is left untreated, it can lead to increased rigidity, tremors, dystonia, anxiety, depression, poor cognition, and even hallucinations (among other symptoms). When healthcare professionals like APPs are equipped to recognize SD and offer management options, patients experience greater physical and mental health and a significantly enhanced quality of life. Nguyen goes on to explain that addressing SD not only positively impacts the patient, but “reduces caregiver burden,” too.

This CME is a crucial topic that will help APPs provide critical patient management and education to the movement disorder community, who are overwhelmingly impacted by sleep disturbances.

Sleep Disturbance in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease is jointly provided by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and Parkinson & Movement Disorder Alliance, and it relies on the expertise of our faculty: Jenny Nguyen, MSN, FNP-C.

About Jenny Nguyen, MSN, FNP-C
Jenny Nguyen, MSN, FNP-C is a movement disorders Nurse Practitioner at Cleveland Clinic Luo Ruvo Center for Brain Health, and is experienced in the management of patients with Parkinson disease, Huntington’s disease, Essential Tremor, Ataxia, Tardive dyskinesia and Dystonia. She’s also an experienced BoNT injector for sialorrhea and a Deep Brain Stimulation Programmer.

Jenny was born in Vietnam and raised in San Diego, CA for 16 years, before relocating to Las Vegas, NV. She joined nursing with the hope to positively impact others. She works in collaboration with Drs. Zoltan Mari and Odinachi Oguh to manage patients with movement disorders. Jenny is so grateful to be able to care for such a vulnerable group and enjoys learning from the experiences of her patients and caregivers. She believes they are the heroes in the story, and she is the side-kick.

About Parkinson & Movement Disorder Alliance (PMD Alliance)
Parkinson & Movement Disorder Alliance is an independent, national 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to providing opportunities for people to learn, live life more fully, and spark meaningful connections around them. PMD Alliance serves people across the United States and is not affiliated with any medical practice or institution. PMD Alliance is committed to keeping our community safe and healthy. Visit PMDAlliance.org to learn more.

About the APProviders™ Consortium
The APProviders™ Consortium is an initiative sponsored by PMD Alliance that engages Advanced Practice Providers, or APPs (nurse practitioners and physician assistants) working in movement and related disorders. APProviders™ aims to support the ability of APPs in movement and related disorders to network and learn within their field of practice. The APProviders™ Consortium offers an online website and app that allows for messaging, shared learning and collaboration across the country, monthly CME topics, and an annual APP Conference to be launched on June 16, 2022 as a part of the ATMRD (Advanced Therapeutics in Movement & Related Disorders) Congress. The APProviders portal is an online forum for APPs to share information, resources, and knowledge.

This is the only organized network for movement and related disorder APPs in the United States. APPs play a vital role in the patient care team in healthcare settings. Because of the APP’s whole person, patient-centric approach to care, the service and care model is ideally aligned with the philosophies and practices of PMD Alliance.