NURSING MANAGEMENT CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD) & ASTHMA (Hutchinson, 2014, pp. 709-756)

COPD: Overview 2  Respiratory disorder normally caused by smoking  Symptoms: dyspnea; difficulty breathing, or shortness of breath(SOB); limitations in activities  Dyspnea: “6th vital sign”-subjective experience of SOB; most disabling symptom; not to be confused with changes in rate or depth of respiration that may not produce a sense of breathlessness  Lung involvement progresses to total body involvement: skeletal muscle dysfunction; Rt. heart failure; polycythemia (hypoxemia); depression; altered nutrition View Understanding COPD …COPD overview 3  Encompasses two obstructive airway diseases:  Chronic bronchitis:  Chronic productive cough for 3 months in 2 successive yrs; all other causes of cough have been excluded  Emphysema  Abnormal and permanent enlargement of the airspaces distal to the terminal bronchioles, with destruction of bronchiole walls and alveoli  Usually overlap between chronic bronchitis and emphysema  4 phenotypes: Asthma/COPD Overlap Syndrome (ACOS); Fre