Public Health and Primary Care
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- Date Submitted: 09/20/2011 10:22 AM
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Public Health and Primary Care
I have chosen to base my care study on Lillian, a 76 year old widow, who has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Lillian lives on her own in a bungalow, her step son Frank, visits once a week. He is the only family member that Lillian has contact with. Lillian was referred to the district nurse team from the local hospitals acute medical ward as she had suffered from a serious chest infection and increased exacerbation. The staff on the ward raised concerns as with exacerbation of COPD her fev 1/fvc ratio was 50 % which meant that she has severe airflow obstruction (Scullion.J 2007). Lillian’s chronic cough and sputum was one of the reasons Lillian was admitted. Treatment used to help this, were Tiotropium 400, which is a long acting anticholinergics this is used for symptom control (Mims 2007). A long acting beta agonist was also used as a steroid therapy.
National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE2004) advocates the use of a spiromentry as being essential to diagnose and assess the severity of COPD. This was used by the COPD nurse to measure Lillian .Other supportive measures could be the use of a nebuliser and influenza vaccination. This can be reflected by the local trusts guidelines for medicine management of COPD.
The term COPD covers both emphysema and chronic bronchitis (West 2004). COPD affects the lungs by causing inflammation of the airways, thus causing the lungs to produce too much mucus. Producing mucus is something which is needed as it keeps the airway moist and supple, also by producing mucus it flushes the airways free from dust and particles which a person may breathe in. Over production of mucus caused by COPD can cause the mucus to become too thick and is usually coughed up as phlegm or sputum. In COPD the sacs, known as alveoli cannot return to their usual shape or do they have as much elasticity and when this is the case the airways become thick and swollen, which can also...
I have chosen to base my care study on Lillian, a 76 year old widow, who has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Lillian lives on her own in a bungalow, her step son Frank, visits once a week. He is the only family member that Lillian has contact with. Lillian was referred to the district nurse team from the local hospitals acute medical ward as she had suffered from a serious chest infection and increased exacerbation. The staff on the ward raised concerns as with exacerbation of COPD her fev 1/fvc ratio was 50 % which meant that she has severe airflow obstruction (Scullion.J 2007). Lillian’s chronic cough and sputum was one of the reasons Lillian was admitted. Treatment used to help this, were Tiotropium 400, which is a long acting anticholinergics this is used for symptom control (Mims 2007). A long acting beta agonist was also used as a steroid therapy.
National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE2004) advocates the use of a spiromentry as being essential to diagnose and assess the severity of COPD. This was used by the COPD nurse to measure Lillian .Other supportive measures could be the use of a nebuliser and influenza vaccination. This can be reflected by the local trusts guidelines for medicine management of COPD.
The term COPD covers both emphysema and chronic bronchitis (West 2004). COPD affects the lungs by causing inflammation of the airways, thus causing the lungs to produce too much mucus. Producing mucus is something which is needed as it keeps the airway moist and supple, also by producing mucus it flushes the airways free from dust and particles which a person may breathe in. Over production of mucus caused by COPD can cause the mucus to become too thick and is usually coughed up as phlegm or sputum. In COPD the sacs, known as alveoli cannot return to their usual shape or do they have as much elasticity and when this is the case the airways become thick and swollen, which can also...