Welcome to our course “Best Care for People with Late Stage Parkinson’s Disease- part 2”!

This course has been developed by a consortium of multidisciplinary experts in the fields of Palliative Care and Movement Disorders, in the context of a H2020 European Project (PD_Pal, GA 825785).

PD_Pal Project Partners:

The course addresses the management of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) in the framework of a new model of care, palliative care, focused on the patient and caregiver’s quality of life along the entire course of disease. The content of the course is evidence-based with practical recommendations for implementations.

Considerable evidence now exists for a more broader role and inclusion of the Palliative Care model in the traditional management of Parkinson’s disease. Similarly to cancer patients, albeit for a longer duration, PD patients have considerable (and mounting) unmet physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs, and experience great problems with coordination and continuity of care. Resources for palliative care are absent, available services have an oncology focus and specific knowledge and skills regarding care of people living with movement disorders and Parkinson is lacking. The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of palliative care emphasizes the use of a multidisciplinary team to address the needs of patients and their families and the quest to enhance quality of life which may also positively influence the course of illness.

This course aims to start addressing these critical gaps by providing you with knowledge in current research, as well as practical skills in implementing palliative care in management of Movement Disorders, especially Parkinson’s.

The overall educational material is organized in two separate courses, each consisting of 6 weeks and the topics covered are:

Week 1: Advance Care Planning and Advance Directives

In the first week of the second course, we will discuss the importance of care planning and the useful instruments that can ensure that patients desires are respected and implemented in his care provision.

Week 2: Advanced Parkinson’s Disease, Death and Dying

In the second week we will approach the clinical manifestations that can occur in the advanced and final phases of PD, together with recommendations to ensure best practice in these delicate moments.

Week 3: Managing Common symptoms in Late-Stage PD

In the previous week we discussed the possible scenarios, but how to manage them? In the third week, we will get into the management of the symptoms and specific emergencies.

Week 4: Loss, Grief management and Bereavement

In the fourth week you will be presented with models and definitions of loss, grief and bereavement. We will discuss their relevance and possible coping strategies and interventions.

Week 5: Spiritual Care

In the second-last week you will be introduced to the concept of spiritual care: What is it? Who can provide it? Why in Parkinson’s disease?

Week 6: Testimonials and Discussion on Advanced Directives

In this final and sixth week, some professionals within the Consortium of educators will present to you their experiences, to encourage and engage you in an open discussion.

In the first course the topics covered are:

Week 1: Parkinson’s Disease

In this first week we will introduce Parkinson’s Disease, from the disease’s history to the latest discoveries and the process of diagnosis.

Week 2: Palliative Care Principles and concepts

In this second week we’ll go deep in what Palliative care means and entails. In the second half of the week, we will present the struggles that Health care professionals may encounter in their clinical practice and provide also strategies to help coping.

Week 3: Parkinson’s Disease and its management

The third week will be all about PD management, from the early to advanced phases.

Week 4: Interdisciplinary approaches for the Management of Parkinson’s Disease

In the fourth week, we will integrate the concepts of the previous week introducing a multidisciplinary approach to PD management, with presentations of clinical cases.

Week 5: Getting on with Life (Living with Parkinson’s Disease)

Within the fifth week we will approach Parkinson’s from the patient’s perspective, investigating disease’s impact in everyday life as well as the related burden, providing some useful tips.

Week 6: Providing care for Caregivers

The title of the sixth week is self-explanatory, we will talk about the figure of the caregiver, his rights and we will provide useful techniques to reduce caring burden.

Let’s go!