title: Hospitalization in Parkinson's disease: a survey of UK neurologists, geriatricians and Parkinson's disease nurse specialists.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Care for people with Parkinson's admitted to hospital is often suboptimal and services for these patients vary. We conducted a national survey to document current service provision in the UK and to explore clinicians' views on standards of care and potential service improvements.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used the mailing lists of British Geriatric Society Movement Disorder Section (BGS-MDS), British and Irish Neurologists' Movement Disorders Group (BRING-MD), and Parkinson's Disease Nurse Specialists Association (PDNSA) and invited participation by email with a link to an online survey (www.surveymonkey.com). The survey was posted in spring 2014 for six weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 93 respondents from at least 65 different hospitals. The estimated response rate was 19%. Respondents were: 35 consultant geriatricians; 21 consultant neurologists, 29 Parkinson's Disease Nurse Specialists (PDNS), 8 others. 81% respondents report their hospital has a PDNS. 79% have a geriatrician with an interest in Parkinson's. 54% have a Parkinson's clinical guideline, 16% a cohort/specialist ward for Parkinson's and 11% an electronic system for flagging Parkinson's admissions. 21% rated overall standard of care as poor. 61% were not confident that medications were given on time. Having a PDNS see all Parkinson's in-patients, flagging of Parkinson's admissions and having a Parkinson's outreach service were ranked most likely of 16 potential service developments to improve care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Care for Parkinson's in-patients is not highly rated by UK Parkinson's clinicians. Interventions to improve care need to be studied but wide variations in current service provision pose a challenge for future study design.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for the Elderly, Royal Derby Hospital, Uttoxeter Road, Derby DE22 3NE, UK. Electronic address: rob.skelly@nhs.net.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Skelly
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, UK. Electronic address: lisa.brown8@nhs.net.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Research & Development Department, Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, UK. Electronic address: apostolos.fakis@nhs.net.
authors.forename: Apostolos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fakis
authors.affiliation: Northumbria Health Care NHS Foundation Trust, North Tyneside General Hospital, Rake Lane, North Shields NE29 8NH, UK; Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, UK. Electronic address: richard.walker@nhct.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009462:Neurology; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Geriatrician; Hospitalization; Neurologist; Parkinson's disease; Specialist nurse; Survey