Managing patients with Parkinson's disease should be viewed as part of a hospital CMO's responsibility for patient safety and quality.
Hospital CMOs and their care teams need to take steps to avoid preventable complication risks among Parkinson's disease patients in the inpatient setting, the lead author of a recently published journal article says.
Parkinson's patients face three primary preventable complication risks in the hospital setting. These risks are medication mismanagement such as nonadherence to time-sensitive medication administration; failure to ambulate Parkinson's patients; and failure to screen for dysphasia, which is associated with aspiration and aspiration pneumonia.
The data on medication management missteps for Parkinson's disease patients in the inpatient setting is "stunning," according to the lead author of the recent journal article, Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, chief quality and transformation officer at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.
"Of the 300,000 patients with Parkinson's disease admitted to hospitals each year, about 75% of them will have some medication mismanagement," Pronovost says. "One-in-10 receive contraindicated medications that can make their symptoms worse."
Click here to read the accompanying HealthLeaders story.
Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
In the inpatient setting, Parkinson's patients face three primary preventable complication risks, including failure to receive medication on a timely basis.
Hospitals need to be able to identify people with Parkinson's disease when they are admitted to the hospital.
Hospital care teams should screen Parkinson's disease patients for dysphasia, so they can identify who is at risk for aspiration.