Parkinson's Disease: Degenerative Condition, Nursing Care Plan Report

This report examines Parkinson's disease as a degenerative condition, focusing on its impact on patients' daily lives and the associated nursing care plans. It details the symptoms, including motor dysfunction, cognitive impairment, and sensory issues, highlighting how these affect activities of daily living (ADL). The report emphasizes the importance of patient-centered care, early communication about disease prognosis, and the need for specialist nurses to educate patients and their families. It also discusses the benefits of providing palliative care and support, and the need to improve patients' quality of life through effective nursing interventions. The report references several studies to support the discussion on the disease and its management, emphasizing the correlation between motor and cognitive functions, and the impact of the disease on the patient's overall well-being.

Running head: PARKINSON AS A DEGENERATIVE DISEASE
Parkinson as a degenerative disease
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PARKINSON AS A DEGENERATIVE DISEASE
Introduction
Parkinson’s disease is characterized by trembling, rigidity, and difficulty in the
movement of body reflecting a brain disorder. The victims of this disease are older people,
where men are more affected than women. Initially, symptoms are seen as physical
disbalance, but as disease progresses, it starts showing behavioral and mental alterations such
as mood changes, insomnia, dementia or memory loss, and fatigue (Sveinbjornsdottir, 2016).
To care for patients with Parkinson’s, a nurse specialist will give services to patient in
managing their medications for this condition, provide information on living with a patient
having a fluctuating condition of Parkinson’s disease and give emotional backing to the
patient and their family throughout the stages of treatment (Hellqvist & Berterö, 2015). The
purpose of this report is to describe symptoms of Parkinson’s disease along with its
deteriorating condition that affects daily activities of older people and what nursing plans are
considered for patient care.
Discussion
The issues associated with the degenerative condition
The chief issues that are mainly linked with Parkinson’s disease are degeneration of
central nervous system where neurons secreting dopamine degenerate along with degradation
of sensory responses. As a result of which risk of falls in older adults increases due to
physical misbalance. Along with motor dysfunction, Parkinson’s disease follows a cognitive
impairment in the later stages including lack of attention, memory, visual perception skills,
and decision-making function. A pilot study was performed with 20 Parkinson’s patients to
assess cognitive and motor function which revealed that body imbalance correlated with
cognitive dysfunction, slurry speech, and inability to switch from one task to the other
(Varalta et al., 2015). Cognitive impairment and memory loss disable the patient to show

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decision-making capacity. Driving is terminated for patients having cognitive impairment,
thereby decreasing their activity levels and reducing their mobility. This can also lead to
depression and reduce quality of life. The patient loses their auditory and visual ability, lack
of planning reactions to stimulus and execution of plan, and lack of checking the outcome of
the performance, and self-correction. Therefore Parkinson’s disease impairs not only motor
but cognitive and sensory functions of the patient (Emre et al., 2014).
A study was performed by Bryant et al., (2016) on analyzing the relationship between
motor symptoms and limited activity in Parkinson’s disease and it was found that physical
disability was associated significantly with reduced ADL or activities of daily life and
increased dependency on someone to carry out the daily activities. However, it showed no
correlation with physical inactivity and motor dysfunction. Axial motor dysfunction was a
result of the occurrence of disease along with age, and gender of the patient. Another study
showed the association of weight loss in Parkinson’s patients and reduced quality of life-
related health (Akbar et al., 2015). Chekani et al., 2016 studied the extent and factors
affecting ADL in Parkinson’s patients who reside in nursing homes. Mood changes were seen
in 45% of the patients, whereas behavioural changes are shown by 24% of them, and 8% of
the patients were found with dementia. It also showed that behavioral symptoms were
negatively associtated with aid in ADL.
The older populations are prone to this neurological disease and a chance of dementia
is usually higher. The cause can be limited supply of blood into the brain due to blockage or
degradation of the brain neurons. The genetic and the exterior factors worsen the condition.
Nursing care plan
The patients with Parkinson’s disease mostly reside in their homes and with their
family members, and therefore, it is easier for specialist nurses to provide services and

3PARKINSON AS A DEGENERATIVE DISEASE
educate them on the care to be taken in such a condition. Nurses can give palliative care and
help with end-of life issues to support the family psychosocially while they face difficulties in
caring for the patient (Sethi & Hohler, 2016). Specialists will give care not only to the patient
but to their spouse or relatives in their home or outpatient clinic. Therefore specialist needs to
be aware of the disease and likely side effects of treatment. The nurse must assess the
changes in the treatment course and take feedback on effects of the treatment. The main aim
of the specialist nurse is to improve their prognosis of the disease and reduce its impact on
daily activities. The nursing care must improve the conditions of patient by giving them aid in
ADL and increase their quality of life so that they can live independently and perform daily
activities on their own (Hellqvist & Berterö, 2015). Patient-centered care is to privilege the
welfare of carers and nursing staff, which has an impact on quality of care provided to
patients. Person-ceneterd care examines the moral values and qualities of the persons where
the person is the priority. Person centered care provides services to the patient at home and
curb the need for hospitalization (Hack et al., 2015). A study was conducted to understand the
need of patients for communication. The survey results from patients revealed that most of
the patients wanted early information on disease prognosis and its treatment, and half of the
patients wanted to interact with carers on their planning care. Some of them also wanted to
discuss their end-of-life care planning. Therefore patients prefer a first communication on the
care plan based on their condition (Tuck et al., 2015).
Conclusion
The above paper discussed about Parkinson’s disease showing features of motor
dysfunction along with mental alterations such as dementia and cognitive inability. Motor
functions are correlated with cognitive impairment and affect the activities of daily life.
However, it is seen that assistance in ADL can improve their ability to perform physical
activities. Patients with this condition also lack visual and auditory abilities. They have

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limited decision-making capacity therefore nurses must plan for giving effective care to these
patients, families, and relatives by educating them about disease and side effects of the
treatment. Patients should be given person-centered-care at home to improve their quality of
life and increase early communication with carer about their end-of-life care plan.

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References:
Akbar, U., He, Y., Dai, Y., Hack, N., Malaty, I., McFarland, N. R., ... & Okun, M. S. (2015).
Weight loss and impact on quality of life in Parkinson’s disease. PloS one, 10(5).
Bryant, M. S., Hou, J. G., Collins, R. L., & Protas, E. J. (2016). CONTRIBUTION OF
AXIAL MOTOR IMPAIRMENT TO PHYSICAL INACTIVITY IN PARKINSON'S
DISEASE. American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation/Association of
Academic Physiatrists, 95(5), 348.
Chekani, F., Bali, V., & Aparasu, R. R. (2016). Functional status of elderly nursing home
residents with Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Parkinson's disease, 6(3), 617-624.
Emre, M., Ford, P. J., Bilgiç, B., & Uç, E. Y. (2014). Cognitive impairment and dementia in
Parkinson's disease: practical issues and management. Movement disorders, 29(5),
663-672.
Hack, N., Akbar, U., Monari, E. H., Eilers, A., Thompson-Avila, A., Hwynn, N. H., ... &
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Hellqvist, C., & Berterö, C. (2015). Support supplied by Parkinson's disease specialist nurses
to Parkinson's disease patients and their spouses. Applied Nursing Research, 28(2),
86-91.
Sethi, S., & Hohler, A. D. (2016). The Application of palliative care principles in advanced
Parkinson’s disease. Advances in Parkinson's Disease, 5(4), 73-86.

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Sveinbjornsdottir, S. (2016). The clinical symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Journal of
neurochemistry, 139, 318-324.
Tuck, K. K., Brod, L., Nutt, J., & Fromme, E. K. (2015). Preferences of patients with
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Varalta, V., Picelli, A., Fonte, C., Amato, S., Melotti, C., Zatezalo, V., ... & Smania, N.
(2015). Relationship between cognitive performance and motor dysfunction in
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