A Practical Guide to Parkinson's Disease: Diagnosis and Management

by Alexandra Armitage MS, CNL, APRN (Editor)

Overview

Knowledge at-a-glance on all aspects of Parkinson's and related syndromes

The only resource of its kind, this is a concise yet comprehensive overview of Parkinson's disease and related syndromes written for PAs, medical students, case managers, and nurse practitioners in primary care and neurology settings. In an easy-to-read approach, it encompasses diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing management of the Parkinsonian patient along with abundant patient education and caregiver resources. The guide also addresses the unique considerations, treatment requirements, challenges, and prognoses for each of the Parkinson syndromes.

The resource presents a brief overview of the anatomy and physiology of Parkinson's disease including the different types of Parkinsonian syndromes, assessment, and state-of-the-art diagnostic tools. It addresses measurement tools and disease progression for both motor and non-motor symptoms. Treatment options include the most current FDA-approved treatments with expert clinical commentary. Illustrations and diagrammatic representations of concepts, along with call-out boxes presenting key author insight, enhance the “information-at-a-glance” focus of the guide. Resources for patient and family offer relief from the burden of care-giving.

Key Features:
• Offers comprehensive yet pithy coverage of Parkinson's disease in bulleted, quick-reference format for busy practitioners
• Covers the unique considerations of Parkinson-plus syndromes
• Includes illustrations, diagrams, and tables to quickly reinforce concepts
• Provides call-out boxes with key author insights
• Presents valuable resources for patient and family

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826144034
Publisher:	Springer Publishing Company
Publication date:	11/28/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	338
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Alexandra Armitage, MS, APRN, CNL, is a clinical nurse leader and board certified nurse practitioner who has worked and taught in numerous clinical and educational neurological and neurosurgical settings. She is currently working as a provider at the Plummer Movement Disorders Center, at Baylor Scott&White in Temple, Texas.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

I. Parkinson’s Disease

1. The Neurobiology of Parkinson’s Disease

Alexandra Armitage

2. The Patient Exam

Alexandra Armitage

3. Defining Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease

Michael J. Soileau

4. Imaging and Advanced Studies

Michael J. Soileau

5. Neuropsychological Assessment

Jared Benge

6. Additional Evaluations

Kyla Sherrard and Christy Herff

II. Parkinsonisms

7. Parkinson-Plus Syndromes

Alexandra Armitage

8. Other Parkinsonisms

Alexandra Armitage

III. Treatment of Motor and Non-Motor Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease

9. Treatment of Motor Symptoms

Alexandra Armitage

10. Treatment of Non-Motor Symptoms: Autonomic Dysfunction

Melissa Streeter and Alexandra Armitage

11. Treatment of Non-Motor Symptoms: Sleep Disturbances

Alexandra Armitage

12. The Nature of Cognitive Problems in Typical and Atypical Parkinsonisms

Richard Phenis and Jared Benge

13. Treatment of Non-Motor Symptoms: Neuropsychiatric Symptoms

Alexandra Armitage

IV: Alternative Therapies and Other Considerations

14. Exercise

Alexandra Armitage

15. Complementary and Alternative Therapies

Alexandra Armitage

16. Nutrition

Alexandra Armitage

17. Caregiver Burden and Legal Considerations

Christy Herff

Appendix A: Hoehn and Yahr Scoring Scale

Appendix B: Drugs That Should Be Avoided in Patients With Parkinson’s Disease

Appendix C: Patient Handout for Hospitalization

Appendix D: Standardized Intake Questions for Evaluating a Parkinson’s Patient

Appendix E: Standardized Questions for Evaluating the Patient in a Follow-Up Visit

Resources

Index

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Wanshu Di, M.D.(Thomas Jefferson University)
Description: This is a concise overview of Parkinson's disease and related syndromes that encompasses diagnosis, treatment, and management of these patients. It includes access to a website with an ebook version.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide a general summary of the diagnosis and management of Parkinson's disease.
Audience: The intended audience is nurses, case managers, and nurse practitioners in primary care and neurology settings. It should be useful for nurse practitioners and physician assistants who are new to the field, and it may be useful for physicians still in training. The author works for a well-known movement disorder center.
Features: This is a brief summary of the biology of Parkinson's disease, along with how to examine a patient properly. It defines diagnostic criteria and features the treatment of symptoms. The book summarizes current management relatively well and presents good radiographic imaging. The use of cases is helpful and their descriptions are thorough. It would be helpful to provide videos of cases, especially in movement patients. Although the subtitle is diagnosis and management, the segment on diagnosis and management is a relatively smaller portion of the book than I would expect. The book could have focused more on management, and provided more in-depth explanations or ways to titrate medications. It is nice to have charts for drug interactions and side effects, etc. It would also be helpful to have a flow chart of what medications usually to start with, separated by age, as older patients often get a different pathway than young patients. There is some repetition. The resources listed at end of the book are all Parkinson's-related websites for associations like Michael J. Fox.
Assessment: This is a good summary of the diagnosis and management of patients with Parkinson's disease. It will do very well for nurse practitioners and physician assistants who are joining movement or Parkinson's disease clinics. However, as an in-depth guide, it would be inadequate. It also needs some work to make it more aesthetically pleasing. For example the bullets/highlights could be more uniform. At times these appear on the sides of pages in shaded boxes, and at other times in the middle of pages in bulleted lists. The paragraphs could also be shorter, or with more space in between to make clearer breaks.

Doody's Review Service