Challenges in the pharmacotherapeutic management of the hospitalised patient with Parkinson's disease

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are admitted to hospital more frequently and for a longer time than other patients from the same age group. The reason they are hospitalised is often different from their underlying baseline disease and they are usually attended in services with little knowledge of the disease. Both the errors made when administering levodopa and the inappropriate use of pharmacological agents with a central antidopaminergic action are relatively common during their stay in hospital. This study reports on an analysis of the literature available on the challenges and complications that patients with PD have to deal with when they are admitted to hospital, especially those that have to do with pharmacotherapy. Likewise, the authors also propose a series of strategies that lead to better care of the patients during the time they are in hospital, including aspects such as controlling the supplies of antiparkinsonian medication and establishing protocols for the therapeutic exchange of antiparkinsonian agents, as well as protocols for a suitable management of comorbidities in this kind of patients. Other strategies involve encouraging self-management of the antiparkinsonian treatment by the hospitalised patients, conducting follow-up studies to monitor inappropriate prescriptions or creating the figure of 'specialist in PD'. To do so, it will be necessary to raise the awareness of the healthcare staff at the hospital, as well as that of both patients and their relatives, about the problems derived from an inappropriate management of pharmacotherapy in PD.