# Outpatient interface challenges for drug safety in Parkinson’s disease patients: a questionnaire based cross-sectional study

## TL;DR

This study explores communication challenges between doctors in outpatient care for Parkinson’s disease patients, highlighting the need for better coordination to ensure drug safety.

## Contribution

The study identifies gaps in interdisciplinary communication and proposes digital health solutions to improve drug safety for Parkinson’s patients.

## Key findings

- General practitioners and neurologists lack formal agreements or structured communication for lab checks and new prescriptions.
- Only drug–drug interaction identification is consistently performed by both professions.
- Standardized communication mechanisms are urgently needed to enhance therapy safety for Parkinson’s patients.

## Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic and multifaceted disease with a variety of motor and non-motor symptoms. The safe symptomatic drug therapy of often multimorbid patients places enormous demands on the competence, communication and coordination of the treating physicians, particularly in the outpatient sector.

This study aimed to explore aspects of drug safety and interdisciplinary communication in the outpatient sector of PD patients.

A semistructured questionnaire was designed addressing various aspects of drug safety in the outpatient setting. The questionnaire was sent to a total of 1,002 general practitioners (GP) and 1,005 neurologists (NEU).

One hundred and forty-seven NEU and eighty-four GP answered the questionnaire. Overall, NEU treated more PD patients, while GP cared for more geriatric PD patients, especially outside of the outpatient clinic (home visits, nursing homes). Regarding the execution of recommended laboratory or technical check-ups, as well as the prescription of new medications, neither a formal agreement nor structured communication existed. Merely the identification of potential drug–drug interactions (DDI) was regularly carried out by both professions.

The inadequate interdisciplinary communication hampers therapy safety and consequently the safety of the vulnerable PD patient group. For this reason, standardized and comprehensive communication mechanisms are urgently needed. Solution approaches may include an individual protected digital health record or integrated treatment networks comprising all professionals participating in the management of PD patients.