Respiratory assessment of patients presenting with COPD(chronic Essay

Respiratory assessment of patients presenting with COPD(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) including subjective and objective data gathering- history takin - Essay Example It is a long term condition that leads to damaged airways, causing them to become narrow, making it harder for air to get in and out of the lungs† (COPD National Service Framework, 2008). There are â€Å"currently 300 million people have asthma; 210 million people have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) while millions have allergic rhinitis and other often under-diagnosed chronic respiratory diseases† (World Health Organization, 2008). Therefore, a sound knowledge of respiratory disease and skills to effectively manage these patients are essential in the delivery of care. In line with this, I have chosen two pieces of evidence regarding COPD. For the first piece of evidence, we will be looking into the subjective and objective respiratory assessment of patients with common respiratory disorders such as asthma and COPD. Furthermore, on the second piece of evidence, I have chosen to deal with acute breathlessness due to exacerbation to COPD as well as its possible medical interventions. I will also take into consideration the psychosocial impact/s of this disease to the patient and also about patient education for self-management initiative. â€Å"Respiratory diseases kill one in five people in the UK and has a mortality rate higher then coronary heart disease† (British Thoracic Society, 2006a). Respiratory diseases accounts for a large part of the total medical admission to the hospital, wherein the most common is asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) (Roussos & Koutsoukou, 2003). It is estimated that there are about 600,000 patients in the UK with diagnosed COPD and there may be as many again who remain undiagnosed. Nearly one in three (29%) episodes of finished consultant episodes for patients over 60 years and one- fifth (21%) of bed days used for respiratory disease treatment are for chronic obstructive lung disease (British Thoracic Society, 2006b). These figures give us a clear picture as to how