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Hi, Susan, We operate a Movement Disorders clinic that sees upwards of 1,000 patients each year. We have five movement disorder specialists seeing these patients. They are board-certified neurologists who have had specialized training in movement disorders, plus lots and lots of experience. We see nothing but movement disorder patients--no stroke or Alzheimer's for example, unless those disorders are incorporated in a movement disorders patients. Our patients are, for the most part, middle-aged and beyond, as you might expect, but we also see children and adolescents who have such disorders as Tourette syndrome and dopa responsive dystonia. Our physicians have courtesy privileges only at a local hospital, meaning that they may visit patients, but not treat patients who have been admitted. Our standard practice is to rely on the family physician or general neurologist to organize all care other than movement disorders and to be watchful for possible conflicts in prescriptions, etc. I don't know if other movement disorder specialists operate in this fashion or not, but it works quite well for us since we find that our patients are usually admitted to a hospital for reasons other than their movement disorder. To summarize, the hallmarks of a movement disorders clinic are (1) specialization (2)expertise/experience (3)daily familiarity with prescribing the appropriate drugs and with the subtle nuances of disease (4) (often) participation in clinical trials of new drugs, (5) in-house support services such as support groups, excerise, speech therapy, physical therapy, etc. and/or referrals, and (6) (almost always) a longer time in the exam room than is common in other settings. I hope this helps. I think most of the people on this list would agree that seeing a specialist, at least periodically, is extremely useful in obtaining the highest possible quality of life and the slowest possible progress of disease. Good luck to you. Carole Cassidy -----Original Message----- From: Susan Tomlin [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 1998 10:34 AM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: Movement Disorder Clinic Hi, everyone I need some information on what a Movement Disorder Clinic is for. To be honest I am not sure what they do and I will probably need to explain what they do to my Family Doctor so I need to be informed myself. I'll have to find out if my mom will have to go there or if someone can come and see her in the hospital. I found out yesterday that mom's neurologist does not have priviliges at our hosptial so he can't even come to see her, so our GP will be the one organizing her meds ( she took mom off sinemet, yesterday ). Mom has improved slightly. Thanks so much for all your help so far. Take care Bye for now Susan To Email me: [log in to unmask] To see me: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/1391/index.html