Team-Based Care for People with Parkinson’s Disease: A Guide for GPs, Nurses, Allied Health Professionals, and Pharmacists

Hosted by Tasmania PHN, this second webinar in the Parkinson’s Disease (PD) series focuses on the important role of multidisciplinary healthcare in supporting people living with PD.

The primary care team—including GPs, nurses, allied health providers, and pharmacists—plays a key role in ensuring individuals with PD are referred to the right team members throughout the course of the disease.

Following diagnosis (covered in our first webinar), people with PD need ongoing support to understand PD and adapt as their disease progresses over time. This session will explore the roles of commonly involved team members, such as PD nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech pathologists, who will speak to their contributions at various stages of the disease.

This session will also discuss access to both public and private services available to support this care.

The session will conclude with an introduction to an exciting research initiative led by Professor Michele Callisaya, which aims to expand access to allied health services for all Tasmanians through innovative telehealth models.

Speakers:

• Co-host: Jan Radford - Professor in General Practice at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and GP
• Co-host. Harley Stanton - Parkinson’s Disease (PD) advocate and person living with PD
• Michelle Mortensen - Occupational therapist with special skills in PD care
• Maggie McKenzie - Physiotherapist and organiser of PD warriors exercise group
• Anne-Maree Digney - Clinical Nurse Consultant working with people with PD in northern Tasmania
• Michele Callisaya - UTAS professor with physiotherapy background and a person living with PD. Lead researcher in ParkinsonsNet
• Jade Cartwright - UTAS associate professor with speech pathology background.

Learning outcomes:

• Describe the roles of specialist Parkinson’s disease (PD) nurses and allied health professionals in delivering comprehensive, patient-centred care for individuals living with Parkinson’s disease
• Identify strategies to facilitate timely and appropriate referrals to multidisciplinary team members involved in the management of Parkinson’s disease.
• Recognise the structure and benefits of the ParkinsonNet model and describe how to support patient access to this network or similar multidisciplinary care pathways.