A Narrative Review of Specialist Parkinson’s Nurses: Evolution, Evidence and Expectation

Emma Tenison; Alice M James; Louise Ebenezer; Emily J Henderson

doi:10.3390/geriatrics7020046

A Narrative Review of Specialist Parkinson’s Nurses: Evolution, Evidence and Expectation

Emma Tenison^*, Alice M James, Louise Ebenezer, Emily J Henderson

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Extended nursing roles have existed since the 1940s. The first specialist nurse for Parkinson’s disease, a complex neurodegenerative disease, was appointed in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1989. A review was undertaken using MEDLINE and Cumulative Index to the Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), relating to the role and evidence for Parkinson’s disease nurse specialists (PDNSs). PDNSs fulfil many roles. Trials of their effectiveness have failed to show a positive benefit on health outcomes, but their input appears to improve the wellbeing of people with Parkinson’s. Now embedded in the UK Parkinson’s multidisciplinary team, this care model has since been adopted widely, including successful dissemination of training to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of evidence to support the benefit of PDNSs may reflect an insufficient duration and intensity of the intervention, the outcome measures selected or the need to combine PDNS input with other evidence-based interventions. Whilst the current evidence base for their effectiveness is limited, their input appears to improve subjective patient wellbeing and they are considered a vital resource in management. Better evidence in the future will support the development of these roles and may facilitate the application of specialist nurses to other disease areas.

Original language	English
Article number	46
Number of pages	13
Journal	Geriatrics
Volume	7
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics7020046
Publication status	Published - 7 Apr 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: E.T. and E.J.H. receive salary support from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation (GAT3676).

Funding Information:
Conflicts of Interest: Dr Emily J Henderson received funding from the National Institute of Health Technology (NIHR), the Gatsby Foundation and Parkinson’s UK; received fees for speaking and consultancy from Profile pharma Medicys and Luye; received travel support from Bial Abbvie and Ever pharma. Louise Ebenezer has facilitated masterclasses for Britannia; she has also spoken at BritMODIS and events organised by Neurology Academy, but did not receive speaker fees. Dr Tenison and Dr James have no conflicts of interest to report.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Structured keywords

Ageing and Movement Research Group

Keywords

Parkinson’s disease
nursing
effectiveness of care
caregivers

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abstract = "Extended nursing roles have existed since the 1940s. The first specialist nurse for Parkinson{\textquoteright}s disease, a complex neurodegenerative disease, was appointed in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1989. A review was undertaken using MEDLINE and Cumulative Index to the Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), relating to the role and evidence for Parkinson{\textquoteright}s disease nurse specialists (PDNSs). PDNSs fulfil many roles. Trials of their effectiveness have failed to show a positive benefit on health outcomes, but their input appears to improve the wellbeing of people with Parkinson{\textquoteright}s. Now embedded in the UK Parkinson{\textquoteright}s multidisciplinary team, this care model has since been adopted widely, including successful dissemination of training to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of evidence to support the benefit of PDNSs may reflect an insufficient duration and intensity of the intervention, the outcome measures selected or the need to combine PDNS input with other evidence-based interventions. Whilst the current evidence base for their effectiveness is limited, their input appears to improve subjective patient wellbeing and they are considered a vital resource in management. Better evidence in the future will support the development of these roles and may facilitate the application of specialist nurses to other disease areas.",

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N2 - Extended nursing roles have existed since the 1940s. The first specialist nurse for Parkinson’s disease, a complex neurodegenerative disease, was appointed in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1989. A review was undertaken using MEDLINE and Cumulative Index to the Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), relating to the role and evidence for Parkinson’s disease nurse specialists (PDNSs). PDNSs fulfil many roles. Trials of their effectiveness have failed to show a positive benefit on health outcomes, but their input appears to improve the wellbeing of people with Parkinson’s. Now embedded in the UK Parkinson’s multidisciplinary team, this care model has since been adopted widely, including successful dissemination of training to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of evidence to support the benefit of PDNSs may reflect an insufficient duration and intensity of the intervention, the outcome measures selected or the need to combine PDNS input with other evidence-based interventions. Whilst the current evidence base for their effectiveness is limited, their input appears to improve subjective patient wellbeing and they are considered a vital resource in management. Better evidence in the future will support the development of these roles and may facilitate the application of specialist nurses to other disease areas.

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A Narrative Review of Specialist Parkinson’s Nurses: Evolution, Evidence and Expectation

Abstract

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