Telehealth for Parkinson’s: Accessing Healthcare from Home

Having access to timely and convenient healthcare is crucial for people living with Parkinson’s. Modern technology has allowed for the growth of telehealth – medical care and services provided over the phone, internet, or remote devices – which is helping to make high-quality care more accessible.

There are many kinds of telehealth available, all of which serve to remotely connect patients to their healthcare providers. Some popular examples include:

• Phone or video chat appointments with your healthcare team
• Assessments, referrals, and prescriptions via internet or smartphone applications
• Medical information and advice phone lines and websites, such as HealthLink BC
• Medical alert systems, including smartphone applications, wearable sensors, or smart home systems for remote patient monitoring (telemonitoring)

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many healthcare professionals to turn to telehealth, in order to better practice physical distancing and protect their immunocompromised patients.

The Benefits of Telehealth

Telehealth enables people to quickly and easily connect with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals from the comfort of their home. It also allows those living in smaller communities or rural areas to gain access to advice and assessment from busy specialists, who often have offices only in large urban centres.

One recent study (Beck et al., 2017), which had 195 people with Parkinson’s receive their usual care through virtual appointments, evaluated telehealth to be an equally effective alternative to in-person visits. These virtual house calls saved the study’s participants an average of 169 minutes of travel time, and roughly 150km of driving. Across British Columbia, access to movement disorder specialists and allied healthcare professionals can be extremely limited, and telehealth may be a way for many more people with PD to access their care, no matter where they live.

For people with PD, telehealth can also replace many in-person appointments with primary care providers. Healthcare professionals can perform visual assessments, and hear patients’ self-reported symptoms over video chat. For many people, these types of appointments could even result in more accurate assessments, since patients are likely to feel more comfortable in their home environment than in a clinic or doctor’s office, resulting in a more honest and candid conversation (Bloem et al., 2020).

Telehealth further allows people to connect with healthcare professionals during times when their guidance is most urgently needed, such as during freezing episodes, “off” periods, or other instances of severe symptom fluctuations. Bloem et al. (2020), note that assessments in a clinical environment may be unrealistic for some patients, who may appear to have little difficulty with their mobility during appointments, but who experience disabling symptoms at home. This discrepancy may come as a result of medication timing, as many people with Parkinson’s will adjust their dosing in order to avoid symptoms that will affect their mobility and communication during appointments, and travel to and from them.

Bloem et al. (2020) also note that some patients, especially those who require visits to hospitals or mental health clinics, may feel ashamed or embarrassed in these environments. Virtual care from the comfort of home can eliminate this discomfort, and help patients focus on making the most of their healthcare appointments.

Accessing Telehealth

If you are interested in accessing telehealth services, it is important to discuss this with your healthcare team, so they may refer you to services they know and use, or services proven useful for other people with Parkinson’s. You may ask your healthcare team about setting up appointments through video conferencing platforms like Skype or Zoom to get started. For general health advice and guidance, you can also access telehealth through services like HealthLink BC (healthlinkbc.ca or 8-1-1) or through smartphone applications like Babylon by TELUS Health.

As with any other method of healthcare service delivery, telehealth must adhere to high standards of security, privacy, and confidentiality between patients and their doctors. Before accessing telehealth, be sure that the services you choose are ones which are recommended by qualified healthcare professionals. For support in navigating services available to you, speak with your healthcare team, or connect with the friendly and knowledgeable staff at Parkinson Society BC.

Sources

Beck, Christopher A., et al. (2017). National randomized controlled trial of virtual house calls for Parkinson’s disease. Neurology, 89(22). Retrieved from: https://n.neurology.org/content/89/11/1152

Bloem, Bastiaan R., Dorsey, E., and Okun, M.S. (2020). The Coronavirus Disease 2019 Crisis as Catalyst for Telemedicine for Chronic Neurological Disorders. JAMA Neurol. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/32KeGeP

This content was published in the Summer 2020 edition of our quarterly magazine, Viewpoints. The content was accurate as of this publication date.