Recently, I helped out as a PRN (called-as-needed) therapist at a skilled nursing facility. One of my colleagues explained a fast-approaching predicament. He owns a home healthcare company and one of his employees, a speech-language pathologist, wrote a progress report he planned to present at a family meeting. The only problem…he is an occupational therapist by trade and struggled to make sense of the speech-language jargon. He gave me a nice smile and asked me to help him out. I happily obliged.
As healthcare providers, we must write “skilled documentation”. This means every formal document we create has to demonstrate the services we provide are skilled in nature. That is, only a specialist in the field can provide the care we bring to the table. This leads to a necessity of specialized words and ambiguous acronyms that can leave someone outside of the field in a tangle of confusion.
Today we will unwrap some common terms related to Parkinson’s disease (PD) and its treatment so you can become more familiar with them. If you have had PD for a while or feel decently familiar with PD terms, quiz yourself along the way (and then pat yourself on the back for every definition you get correct)! Below is a combination of terms which describe PD symptoms, PD characteristics, and terms you will often see in medical or therapeutic reports.
Untangled Terms
Ambulate (am-byuh-leyt): to walk or to move from one place to another
Bradykinesia (brad–i–ki–nee–zhuh): slowness of movement
D/C: discontinue or discharge; as in “D/C occupational therapy after 4 weeks”
Dopamine (doh–puh-meen): a neurotransmitter that allows messages to pass from the brain to the body related to movement; there is a deficit of this neurotransmitter in the brain in Parkinson’s disease
Dx: “diagnosis”
Dysarthria (dis-ahr-three–uh): changes in speech; can result in speech that is too fast/too slow, slurred, and difficult to understand
Dyskinesia (dis-ki-nee–zhuh): uncontrolled, involuntary body movements that can impact one body part or be observed throughout the entire body
Dysphagia (dis-fey-juh): difficulty swallowing, can occur with solid foods, liquids, medication, and/or saliva
Festination (fes-tuh–ney-shuh n): behavior of initiating walking with short, quick steps, often taken on the tip-toes with an accelerating pace, commonly observed in Parkinson’s disease
Freezing (free–zing): the phenomenon of being “stuck” when attempting to initiate a movement, often seen prior to taking the first step when walking
Gait (geyt): a person’s manner of walking
H/O: “history of”; as in “Patient has h/o falls in the past 3 months”
Idiopathic (id-ee-uh–path-ik): having an unknown cause; typically referring to a disease or a symptom that has an unknown cause (i.e. Parkinson’s disease)
Kyphosis (kahy-foh-sis): an abnormal curve in the spine causing a bulge in the upper back and a forward leaning posture, common in Parkinson’s disease
Neurodegenerative (noo–roh–dih-jen-er-uh-tiv): “neuro” being related to the brain and “degenerative” indicating a downward progression of symptoms; Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease
NPO: “nil per os”, which means “nothing by mouth”; the person should not eat or drink anything through the mouth
Parkinsonism (pahr-kin-suh-niz-uh m): used to describe a set of symptoms (i.e. muscle rigidity, tremors, postural instability) typically seen in Parkinson’s disease but also seen in other select syndromes; also can be seen as an adverse side effect of individuals taking antipsychotic drugs
PLOF: “Prior level of function”, a description of what the patient was able to do prior to the most recent medical change, as in “Patient was able to swallow regular solid food without coughing at PLOF”
PNA: “pneumonia”
POC: “plan of care”, which is the current treatment or intervention that will be provided addressing the medical or therapeutic issues at hand
SNF: “skilled nursing facility”
Tx: typically indicates “therapy” when written in medical reports or physician’s orders
This list is not even close to exhaustive but is a start to understanding the common terms and symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. Not all of these symptoms or characteristics of the disease will be experienced by everyone with PD. Symptoms vary considerably from person to person. Search engines have made definitions like these more accessible, so learning the vocabulary that is frequently referenced throughout your medical and therapy appointments can provide a more solid understanding and sense of control. If you find the healthcare providers working with you tend to speak over your head when using jargon-heavy terminology, it can be helpful to give a gentle reminder that explanations may need to be provided.
Looking for a more exhaustive list of PD terms? Check out these resources:
Michael J. Fox Foundation: Parkinson’s disease Glossary
World Parkinson Coalition: Parkinson’s disease Glossary
Which vocabulary, acronyms, or healthcare lingo have confused you in the past? Comment below and share what you learned!
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