Telemedicine Study Group
Have questions? Contact the group’s MDS Staff Liaison, Nick Bauman, at nbauman@movementdisorders.org
Mission
The mission of this study group is to investigate ways of developing telemedicine to improve patient care, education and research for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders around the world.
Aims
Aims
- Firstly, to enlist user-friendly technology to reach and provide chronic care to any patient with movement disorders, anywhere in the world.
- Secondly, to educate health care professionals around the world on management of Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders.
- Thirdly, to leverage technology to increase research awareness and effectiveness for Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. Fourthly, to serve as a frontier for artificial intelligence (AI) applications in movement disorders practice.
- To help increase access to care and to train providers around the world using technology, the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society launched a Telemedicine Task Force in 2012 evolving to a Study Group in 2018. The Telemedicine Task Force efforts resulted in pilot projects in patient care and education to lay the foundations for reaching the majority of people with movement disorders.
View group goals
- To study new ways and feasibility in which a telemedicine visit can be implemented (e.g. synchronous vs. asynchronous) to extend highly specialized multidisciplinary movement disorders care and to improve access across the world.
- To study new ways in which telemedicine can be used to extend virtual research visits for patients with movement disorders to reach underserved areas.
- To provide support to the International Parkinson´s Disease and Movement Disorder Society for initiatives regarding educational, research and epidemiological studies.
- To validate and study clinical tools (rating scales, etc), diagnostic accuracy, and screening for movement disorders by using telemedicine.
- To periodically update the innovative ways in which a telemedicine visit can be implemented: equipment and video software, licensure/registration, financial support/reimbursement, video exam room set up, etc.
View the group's: |
Current Projects
Asynchronous Consultations for Movement Disorders (ACMD) Program
In collbaoration with the MDS Africa Leadership
Led by Mark Guttman
This consultation service matches local physicians with consultants, who are volunteer members of the Telemedicine Task Force, to advise referring physicians about the diagnosis and treatment of patients that they would like to have a second opinion. The pilot program launched in 2015, and MDS continues to provide ongoing support for this project.
- Both referring and consulting physicians have expressed high satisfaction with the program since its pilot in 2015
- An initial evaluation found that the telemedicine consultations impacted the evaluation and treatment in 80% of cases.
- It was awarded a Power of A Gold Award in 2018
Palliative Virtual Home Visits for Atypical Parkinsonian Disorders
Led by Nicholas Galifianakis, MD, MPH, Alexander Pantelyat, MD
Atypical Parkinsonian Disorders (i.e. MSA, DLB, CBS and PSP) are usually rapidly progressive conditions for which no truly effective symptomatic treatments exist. This unfortunately leads to severe motor but also non-motor disability that includes neuropsychiatric, psychosocial, and spiritual stressors which negatively impact quality of life (QOL). Multidisciplinary care integrating palliative care principles has the potential to improve QOL by prioritizing the relief of suffering. However, the physical burdens of disease in APDs confer a major barrier to this valuable but time-consuming multidisciplinary care. This study set out to determining the feasibility and preliminary efficacy and satisfaction of telemedicine-based delivery of multidisciplinary palliative care to patients with APDs in their own homes, i.e. palliative virtual home visits.
Leadership
Chair
Christine Doss Esper
Co-Chair
Wael Mohammed
Junior Co-Chair
Mitra Afshari
Steering Committee
Esther Cubo
Jill Farmer
Nicholas Galifianakis
Emilia Gatto
Anhar Hassan
Zoltan Mari
Ruth Schneider
Ali Shalash
Meredith Spindler
Caroline Tanner
Jinyoung Youn
Published Papers
Recommendations for Virtual Administration of the PSP Rating Scale
- Published paper
A Modified Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Rating Scale for Virtual Assessments
- Published paper
Provider Experience with Teleneurology in an Academic Neurology Department
- Published paper
Videoconferencing Software Options for Telemedicine: A Review for Movement Disorder Neurologists
- Published paper
Adopting virtual visits for Parkinson’s disease during COVID-19 in developing countries
- Published paper
Telemedicine in an academic movement disorders center during COVID-19
- Published paper
The role of telemedicine in reshaping care for movement disorders
- Published paper
Digital phenotyping in Parkinson’s disease: Empowering neurologists for measurement-based care
- Published paper
Global survey on telemedicine utilization for movement disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Published paper
Accelerating Telemedicine for cerebral palsy during COVID-19 and beyond
- Published paper
Telemedicine for urgent and ongoing health care for patients with Parkinson’s disease
- Published paper
Coronavirus as a catalyst for telemedicine for chronic neurological disorders
- Published paper
The promise of telemedicine for movement disorders - An interdisciplinary approach
- Published paper
Telemedicine enables broader access to movement disorders curricula for medical students
- Published paper
A Parkinson's disease tele-education program for healthcare providers in Cameroon
- Published paper
The past, present, and future of telemedicine for Parkinson’s disease
- Published paper
Content
Guide: Telemedicine in Your Movement Disorders Practice
Many patients with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, particularly those who are homebound or live in rural areas, are likely to benefit from expanded access to subspecialty care via telemedicine.
Past Projects
Led by Anhar Hassan
Telemedicine is increasingly used to care for patients with movement disorders, but data regarding its global use are limited. In 2015 the Telemedicine Task Force conducted an online survey of all 6056 members of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society regarding their use of telemedicine. There was a 9.1% survey response rate (549 respondents) from 83 countries. Most (85.8%) were physicians, and most (71%) worked in academic/university practice. Half of respondents (n=287, from 57 countries) used telemedicine for clinical care: email (63%), video visits (follow-up 40%, new 35%), and video-education (35%). Video visits were personally conducted by one-fifth (n=105) of respondents, most frequently to outpatient clinics (54%), patient homes (31%).
Led by Esther Cubo
In order to create a feasible, low-cost, web-based tele-education program about Movement Disorders for undergraduate medical students in low-middle, middle-high income countries with poor access to Movement Disorders specialists, the Telemedicine Task Force launched and completed a new course in partnership with University of Douala, Medical School, Cameroon, University of Buenos Aires, Medical School, Argentina. Through this new program, students received a standardized education on moment disorders from world renowned experts via a webinar series. Each site participated in 7 session covering the basics of movement disorder. Either Medical Students from Cameroon or Argentina demonstrated improvement in Movement Disorders Skills after completing pre and post-course assessments.
Led by Esther Cubo
In order to create a feasible, low-cost, web-based tele-education program about Movement Disorders for health professionals in low-middle income countries with poor access to Movement Disorders specialists, the Telemedicine Task Force launched a new course in partnership with University of Douala. Through this new program, family doctors, neurologists, nurses, psychologists, and physiotherapists received standardized education on moment disorders from world renowned experts via a webinar series for one year, once a month. High satisfaction and knowledge improvement was obtained after this course.
Led by Carolinne Tanner and Piu Chan.
In tandem with a CME course hosted in China, the task force conducted a randomized trial. All participating neurologists received one week training in Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and management. At the end of the week, the community neurologists were randomized either to the intervention group (expert consultation via telemedicine) or to the non-intervention group (routine care without expert consultation using telemedicine). At the end of this study, one year later, adequate feasibility, and high satisfaction was reported among telemedicine users.
Led by Meredith Spindler, Jaime-Hatcher
This Study Group has completed and submitted a tutorial on introducing telemedicine into a movement disorders clinic. The tutorial outlined the steps a clinic must take to acquaint its physicians and patients with the movement disorders technology, including technology software and hardware options and best practices for the first and subsequent telemedicine visits.
2018
1. Asynchronous Consultation in Movement Disorders: The East Africa Hub
M. Dekker, S. Urasa, S. Guttman, W. Howlett, M. Guttman (Moshi, United Republic of Tanzania).
2. Palliative Virtual Home Visits for Atypical Parkinsonian Disorders (PVH-Park Study)
M. Afshari, A. Butala, J. Guenther, A. Pantelyat, N. Galifianakis (San Francisco, CA, USA).
3. Asynchronous Telehealth Consultations for Movement Disorders in Africa
J. Guenther, M. Katz, E. Cubo, N. Galifianakis, S. Guttman, N. Okubadejo, M. Spindler, J. Aldred, M. Guttman (San Francisco, CA, USA).
2016
1. Caring for the majority: Telemedicine management of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in underserved populations in People’s Republic of China: A randomized trial
P.B. Chan, S. Liu, Z. Gu, J. An, C.M. Tanner (Beijing, People’s Republic of China)
2. Survey of telemedicine use among MDS members
A. Hassan, E.R. Dorsey, E. Cubo, C.G. Goetz, B.R. Bloem, M. Guttman, S.L. Heath, M. Katz, M. Spinder, C.M. Tanner, Z. Mari, A. Pantelyat, J.A. Bajwa, N.B. Galifianakis, E.M. Gatto (Rochester, MN, USA)
The Telemedicine Study Group in Nice, France, September 2019.