Breathlessness is a common presenting symptom in primary care, and there are many causes.Early and accurate diagnosis is critical to ensuring patients receive the right treatment at the earliest opportunity.
The COPD risk slider supports the initiation of a conversation with your patients about their COPD and to identify any potential risk of exacerbation or worsening of symptoms.
Inhalation is the main route for administration of drugs for conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The advantage of administering drugs by inhaler is that drugs are delivered directly to the site of action within the airways. The onset of action is rapid and systemic adverse effects are minimised. However, for an inhaler to be effective the correct drug must be prescribed and the device must be used correctly. Poor inhaler technique is common.
This article explores the impact of the environment on the health of people with asthma and COPD and focuses on two key areas, indoor (home) and outdoor pollutants and severe weather extremes such as heat waves or very cold weather
Sixteen years ago I was diagnosed with COPD. My COPD means I get breathless very quickly now doing activities or things I previously did easily without and difficulty. Being as active as possible really helps me to manage my condition, so I have joined a gym for the first time as they have sessions purely for people with lung problems. Attending these sessions weekly has resulted in me being able to control the periods of breathlessness.
Bronchoscopic and surgical treatments for people with COPD can improve their lung and exercise capacity, and quality and length of life for many years in addition to what medical treatments can achieve. This pragmatic guide has been developed to highlight to people working in primary care what bronchoscopic and surgical options are currently available, what is in the experimental pipeline, who might be suitable and how primary care can work with specialists to help patients make the right choice for them, prepare for surgery, and provide support afterwards.
PCRS advocate a pragmatic approach to the pharmacological management of patients with COPD guided by the predominance of breathlessness and/or exacerbations and the presence or absence of comorbid asthma. Clinicians must undertake a holistic evaluation for alternative causes of persistent daily symptoms or repeated exacerbations and consider seeking advice from a respiratory specialist before escalating to triple therapy (a respiratory specialist may be a GP/nurse/consultant).
In this article the authors review current evidence and guidance for the treatment of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in order to bring up to date the Primary Care Respiratory Society (PCRS) consensus approach and algorithm first published in 2017 known as ‘Keeping it Simple’.