TY - JOUR
T1 - Patient Companionship in a Movement Disorders Clinic
T2 - Outside Assistance Inside the Office
AU - Vives-Rodriguez, Ana
AU - Trujillo Diaz, Daniel
AU - Louis, Elan D.
N1 - Funding Information:
EL has received research support from the National Institutes of Health: NINDS #R01 NS094607 (principal investigator), NINDS #R01 NS085136 (principal investigator), NINDS #R01 NS073872 (principal investigator), and NINDS #R01 NS088257 (principal investigator).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2019 Vives-Rodriguez, Trujillo Diaz and Louis.
PY - 2019/3/5
Y1 - 2019/3/5
N2 - Objective: We (1) report whether a companion (i.e., spouse, relative, aide) accompanied our consecutive outpatients with a range of movement disorders, (2) identified the set of patient characteristics that was associated with the need for a visit companion, and (3) characterized the role(s) of these companions during the visit. Our overarching goals were to further understand patient needs and the extent of their support networks, and to enrich the clinician-patient interface. Methods: Two-hundred consecutive patients were enrolled from the Movement Disorders Clinic at Yale School of Medicine. We noted whether patients were accompanied by another person during the visit and documented the role of the visit companion during the encounter. Results: One-hundred-twenty-eight of 200 patients (64.0%) brought a companion, with these being spouses (44.8%), adult children (24.1%) or an aide, nurse or social worker (14.5%). Patients who were unemployed (odds ratio [OR] = 5.32, p = 0.019), had a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease or other Parkinsonian syndromes (OR = 10.61, p = 0.001), or were dependent in any instrumental activities of daily living (iADLs) (OR = 4.99, p = 0.005) or basic activities of daily living (bADLs) (OR = 5.81, p = 0.02), had increased odds of presenting to the clinical visit with a visit companion. Visit companions' main roles involved communication (86.7%) and transportation (84.4%). Conclusion: Visit companions were commonly present during movement disorders outpatient visits–two-thirds of patients were accompanied. A number of factors increased the odds of requiring such a companion by 4- or 5-fold.
AB - Objective: We (1) report whether a companion (i.e., spouse, relative, aide) accompanied our consecutive outpatients with a range of movement disorders, (2) identified the set of patient characteristics that was associated with the need for a visit companion, and (3) characterized the role(s) of these companions during the visit. Our overarching goals were to further understand patient needs and the extent of their support networks, and to enrich the clinician-patient interface. Methods: Two-hundred consecutive patients were enrolled from the Movement Disorders Clinic at Yale School of Medicine. We noted whether patients were accompanied by another person during the visit and documented the role of the visit companion during the encounter. Results: One-hundred-twenty-eight of 200 patients (64.0%) brought a companion, with these being spouses (44.8%), adult children (24.1%) or an aide, nurse or social worker (14.5%). Patients who were unemployed (odds ratio [OR] = 5.32, p = 0.019), had a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease or other Parkinsonian syndromes (OR = 10.61, p = 0.001), or were dependent in any instrumental activities of daily living (iADLs) (OR = 4.99, p = 0.005) or basic activities of daily living (bADLs) (OR = 5.81, p = 0.02), had increased odds of presenting to the clinical visit with a visit companion. Visit companions' main roles involved communication (86.7%) and transportation (84.4%). Conclusion: Visit companions were commonly present during movement disorders outpatient visits–two-thirds of patients were accompanied. A number of factors increased the odds of requiring such a companion by 4- or 5-fold.
KW - Parkinson's disease
KW - caregiver
KW - essential tremor
KW - movement disorders
KW - visit companions
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U2 - 10.3389/fneur.2019.00182
DO - 10.3389/fneur.2019.00182
M3 - Article
C2 - 30891002
AN - SCOPUS:85080616065
VL - 10
JO - Frontiers in Neurology
JF - Frontiers in Neurology
SN - 1664-2295
M1 - 182
ER -