ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Parkinson’s Disease and Aging-related Movement Disorders
This article is part of the Research TopicParkinson Disease: Current findings and challenges in diagnosing and treating motor and non-motor symptomsView all 10 articles
Quantity and quality of care and staff knowledge regarding people with Parkinson's disease in long-term nursing care—"real-life" results from the German Care4PD study
Provisionally accepted
Odette Fründt1*
Verena Caroline Lamb1Anne-Marie Hanff2Tobias Mai3Christiane Kirchner1
Ali Amouzandeh1Carsten Buhmann4Rejko Krüger2Alfons Schnitzler5Martin Südmeyer1- 1Department of Neurology, Klinikum Ernst von Bergmann Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
- 2Transversal Translational Medicine, Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), Strassen, Luxembourg, Strassen, Luxembourg
- 3Department of Nursing Development/Nursing Research, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
- 4Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany
- 5Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
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Introduction: About 20% of people with Parkinson's disease (PwP) in Germany need professional long-term care (LTC). Previous data have indicated a rather poor LTC situation and the need for more profound analyses. Therefore, we aimed to assess the quantity and quality of LTC care for PwP and the knowledge on Parkinson's disease (PD) in German LTC nursing staff. Methods: Data from our nationwide, cross-sectoral Care4PD survey, which was distributed postally and online, was analyzed. Out of 295 returned anonymous LTC nurse questionnaires, 288 were included, with descriptive results presented here. Results: Regarding age and working experience, a representative group (n=288) of mainly (79%) registered LTC nurses participated in the study. A total of 95% of them had certain experience with PwP. On average, each nurse supported about 3 PwP per week, with a mean care time of 48 minutes per day. 17% of participants complained about "never" having enough and 50% about "frequently changing" LTC personnel in their institution. Additionally, 10% reported "unsafe" care quality, with the occurrence of avoidable complications. Rather insufficient knowledge on PD and the importance of PD-specialized training were highlighted, with current training options often not recognized. Optimization suggestions consisted of more personnel and time capacities, educational aspects, and interprofessional interexchange. Discussion/Conclusion: Improvement of PwP care in German LTC facilities requires not only the general provision of more personnel and time resources, but also, in particular, encouraging more expertise in LTC nursing staff to optimize care quality. The existing and only little-known training opportunities should therefore be made known to a larger number of LTC nurses.
Keywords: Parkinson's disease, quantity, quality, Staff knowledge, Long-Term Care, Nursing
Received: 08 Sep 2025; Accepted: 25 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fründt, Lamb, Hanff, Mai, Kirchner, Amouzandeh, Buhmann, Krüger, Schnitzler and Südmeyer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Odette Fründt
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