Caring for patients with Parkinson's disease in general hospital settings.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common progressive neurological condition. There are 127,000 people with the disease in the UK, that is, one in every 500 of the population. In 2014-15 there were 14,000 hospital admissions of people with PD in England. However, PD is often not the primary cause of admission. Urinary tract infections and pneumonia, for example, are frequent causes of hospital admission for people with PD. Therefore, nurses on general medical and surgical wards will often care for people with PD. This article aims to provide an update on PD and explore the nurse's role in assessment and provision of safe and effective care for patients with PD in acute hospital settings.