2020 年 37 巻 3 号 p. 294-298
The necessity of the nurses who have expert knowledge and skills for the care for Parkinson's disease patients (i.e. Parkinson's disease nurse) is recently increasing. The rapid increase of the prevalence of Parkinson's disease, the comprehensive assessment of the various motor and nonmotor symptoms and the complicated therapeutic strategy including the development of the device aided therapy and the non–oral dopaminergic therapies heighten the necessity of Parkinson's disease nurses. Together with the physicians, Parkinson's disease nurses are expected to play an important role in the multidisciplinary team for the care of Parkinson's disease patients. In several foreign countries, particularly in United Kingdom, the educational and training systems for developing Parkinson's disease nurses are well established and several guidelines for Parkinson's disease nurses are available for clinical practice. The educational courses for developing Parkinson's disease nurses are recently held also in Japan, however the training system remains to be well organized. In this article, the necessity, the current situation in the foreign countries and a variety of role of Parkinson's disease nurses are discussed.
