Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease that is obstructive with characteristics such as poor air flow. According to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease article several guidelines are highlighted; any patient with dyspnea, production of sputum and/ an account of exposure to the disease risk factors should have OCPD checked. The following prevention strategies be put into consideration; tobacco smoking needs to stop since tobacco smoking plays the largest part in causing COPD. In some cases influenza vaccinations should be administered to reduce severe illness and death, consequently all patients with sixty-five (65) years or above should be recommended to have pneumococcal vaccinations, alternatively, exposure to risk factors should be identified and reduced to prevent COPD.
The management of already existing COPD cases is also important. Where COPD is identified effective management should so that future risk of exacerbations can be reduced. Also, pharmacologic therapies should be conducted to improve health status, exercise tolerance, and lessen symptoms as well as the risk of severity of exacerbations besides proper inhaler method should is useful. A medical professional should help patients to adapt their health behaviors and manage their diseases through coaching; to conclude patients should be given proper follow ups.
Consider a case with a patient (male) depicting the following characteristics; patient is above the age of 40, shortness of breath, underweight, sputum production, frequent winter colds or a chronic cough and has exhibited for long the risk factors for the disease (tobacco smoking and air pollution) (Harrison et al., 2015).The strategies can be implemented in a clinical setting with the help of the above diagnosis
Medication to open the air ways should be conducted using a bronchodilator, spirometry test the spirometer (the amount of airflow obstruction) FEV1/FVC < 70%confirms that persistent airflow limitation is present and therefore of COPD in patients having significant symptoms and exposures to risk of the diseases. Question the patient to identify whether he or she have been exposed to risks such as smoke from cooking, this is to test the level of severity, on COPD assessment test, (CAT), the range is from 0-40, the severity of the disease increases with the increase in the value (Harrison et al., 2012)
The patient requires to be assessed of his exacerbation, the following observations will be seen for a patient with COPD disease, the patient will have fast breaths rapid heart rate followed by changes of the patients sputum from green to yellow and increased cough, by examining the patient with a stethoscope crackles may be heard over the sick person’s chest (Spiro, Silvestri & Agustí, 2012)
It is also necessary to conduct complete blood count and an x-ray to eliminate other conditions during diagnosis, the patient is supposed to show signs such as a flat diaphragm, over expanded lungs and increased retrosternal airspace. From the listed test the patient will be confirmed sick from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the right medication and illness management must be an offered to so as to save the life of the patient. Here is what should be considered as treatment control is put into practice.
The patient should be encouraged that the disease does not mean the end of his life there are alternatives. To start with; the first step in the medication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is avoiding smoking, it is the only way to keep COPD from getting worse. The patient should be guided through counseling sessions and given adequate medication .The patient should be recommended for influenza vaccination so as to reduce COPD exacerbations yearly. Furthermore, the patients’ needs pneumococcal vaccination (Pauwels, Buist, Calverley, Jenkins, & Hurd, 2001) to be able to sustain life management is required. The patient should be involved in numerous exercises, they should not have an optimal routine and non-invasive ventilations should miss. The exercises should be simple, involving activities such as; performing endurance arm exercises which help improve arm movement and a resultant improvement in breathlessness for people with COPD. In comparison to regular treatment programs Tai Chi exercises are more beneficial to pulmonary function and capacity, it is more efficient compared to other intervention programs(Ngai, Jones, & Tam, 2012).The patient is underweight which might alter the degree of ailment and prognosis of COPD, by increasing calorie intake the breathing muscle strength can be improved.
To conclude, COPD gets worse gradually and can even result in death. However the worsening rate which predicts a poor outcome relies on the presence of factors; we should discourage smoking and save lives.
- Harrison, T., Kasper, D., Fauci, A., Hauser, S., Longo, D., Jameson, J., & Loscalzo, J. (2015). Harrison’s principles of internal medicine (1st ed.). [New York]: McGraw-Hill Education.
- Spiro, S., Silvestri, G., & Agustí, A. (2012). Clinical respiratory medicine (1st ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Saunders.
- Pauwels, R., Buist, A., Calverly, P., Jenkins, C., & Hurd, S. (2001). Global Strategy for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. American Journal Of Respiratory And Critical Care Medicine, 163(5), 1256-1276.
- Ngai, S., Jones, A., & Tam, W. (2012). Tai Chi for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Cochrane Database Of Systematic Reviews. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd009953
- Harrison, T., Longo, D., Kasper, D., Jameson, J., Fauci, A., Hauser, S., & Loscalzo, J. (2012). Harrison’s principles of internal medicine (1st ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.