DBS Virtual Learning Experience

The Value of Virtual Education on Deep Brain Stimulation for Surgical Candidates

The success of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is more correlated to fulfillment of patients' expectations, than merely improvement of motor status1. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to inform the DBS candidates as good as possible to set realistic expectations. Currently, the patient - most of the time accompanied by a family member - is informed about the surgery and its benefits and risks during the outpatient consultation of the neurologist, and later on during the consultation of the neurosurgeon. Written information is provided in the form of a booklet that the patients take home.

Due to the large amount of information, not all of it can be captured by the patient. Therefore, we would like to investigate whether an additional online immersive educational session on DBS would better educate the patient. The online session is a 1-hour video call with a small group of DBS candidates and their caregivers, lead by DBS experts, where testimonials of other patients are shown, together with multiple infographics. Two weeks later their will be a second online session summarizing the information and providing the opportunity for Q&A.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients of any age over 18 who are capable of understanding and granting informed consent.
2. Consecutive enrollment of Parkinson's disease patients, eligible for DBS surgery who will be operated in Toronto Western Hospital.
3. Targets of surgery (STN or GPi) equally in each study arm.
4. Patients must be able to follow the assessment procedure.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. people with limited digital skills (to the discretion of the PI).