MEASURES USED BY PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC qBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE TO MANAGE THE SENSATION OF • DYSPNEA

Abstract

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) 1s a heterogeneous Collection of conditions that affect various structures within the lung in a number of different ways. It is a common problem with an estimated incidence between 20% and 30% in all adults over 40. COPD includes chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, and emphysema.

Breathlessness is the most common complaint of person with COPD; dyspnea is a mulifaceted phenomenon with physiologic, psychologic, and sociologic components. It has five components: The sensation of dyspnea, the perception of dyspnea, dyspnes distress, dyspnea reponse, and reporting dyspnea.

The management of dyspnea is divided into nursing measures and patient self-care behaviours. The nursing measures include assessing the severity of dyspnea, determining the factors affecting the coping process, maintaining the patency of patient's airways, increasing the ventilatory efficiency, ensuring the adequacy •of oxygen, and helping the patient to decrease body needs for oxygen. Also, she has a toward medication pres ribed by doctor. Patient's self-care behaviours are divided into problem-focused behaviours and emotion-focused behaviours.

The present study was carried out to determine the measures used by COPD patients to manage dyspnea and to determine the relationship between the lung function and the measures used by the patient's to manage dyspnea.