Using telehealth to educate Parkinson's disease patients about complicated medication regimens

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) primarily affects older adults, who manage their symptoms with complex medicine regimens. This mixed-methods study evaluated the usefulness and usability of follow-up telehealth medication counseling with a sample of community-based PD patients. Patients taking three or more medications for Parkinson's disease were randomly assigned to the teaching modalities of videophone or telephone. A self-care standardized medication educational session lasting 20 to 30 minutes was conducted, and patient and nurse usefulness of the intervention was evaluated by responses to a 15-question Likert scale and elicited comments. Patients' satisfaction with the intervention involved patterns of time, education, and technology. Videophone users were more satisfied with the equipment and counseling. Videophones were considered easy access to supportive, expert neuroscience nurses. Overall, videophone counseling sessions were significantly more useful than the telephone sessions (t[34] = 0.896, p = 0.004, 95% confidence interval = 1.90 to 3.12). Nurses found visualization via videophone significantly more useful for medication and self-management interactions.