COPD-Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary Disease

COPD- preventable and treatable disease state characterized by chronic airflow limitation that is not fully reversible. The airflow limitation is usually progressive and associated with an abnormal inflammatory response of the lungs to noxious particles or gases, primarily caused by cigarette smoking.

* COPD: Chronic obstructive lung disease decreases the lungs ability to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. As the disease progress the patient has to work harder and harder to breathe often feeling as if they are suffocating. These disease are often link to a lifetime of smoking but be due to environmental factors.

Another treatment is and oxygen treatment which gives you extra oxygen and you wear a mask which you can carry with you or go to the doctor. Some have small oxygen where you carry in backpack but you would need to carry with you at all times. Lastly, surgery with is not really used when someone has COPD and only for those whom have a severe COPD and the treatment does not improve with other treatment listed above. Prevention really is to just stop smoking and exposure to

The main cause of COPD is smoking, the more smoking the worse it gets, because smoking causes the lungs to inflame which then causes scarring, and by time the scarring leads to permanent changes in the lung which then leads to COPD.

First step preventing COPD is to know how it affects the body and the path taken; this is called the pathology. In normal, healthy breathing a person breathes in air that is moves through the bronchial tubes to the bronchioles. At the end of the bronchioles there are air sacs called alveoli. The alveoli are elastic air sacs that control the gas exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide to the body (Smoking, 2016). The alveoli consist of elastic tissue so when a person breaths in the the alveoli can expand and when the carbon dioxide is released it can deflate and return to it’s normal size.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (http://www.thehealthsite.com/diseases-conditions/copd/001/) is considered one of the most common causes of death in the world today and, it appears that most of the patients are active smokers. However, according to researchers, the pulmonary disease can affect everybody, not only people who smoke.

Cigarette smoking is the most common cause, but air pollution and asthma can also cause COPD

The most important treatment is to quit smoking, if you are a smoker, and your doctor will assist you with the program that can help you to quit, and avoid other lungs irritants. There are also medications that can help to relieve your symptoms like bronchodilators depending on the severity of your COPD, as there is short acting and long acting bronchodilators. These bronchodilators are used through inhaler which helps to deliver the medicine into your lungs. If your COPD is severe and flare up more often the Pulmonologist (doctor who studies and treats the disease of the lungs) may combine Glucocorticosteroids (steroid) with your bronchodilator inhaler. Diets and exercises also plays major roles in the treatments of COPD, meanwhile, you may be restricted from eating certain foods or eating less, or frequently to prevent symptoms to flare up. Moderate exercise can also be suggested to strengthen the muscle of your lungs and to increase your overall

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the 4th leading cause of death in the United States and is a major cause of morbidity (CDC, 2011).

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, or COPD, is a relatively common chronic illness that is treatable, however there is currently has no cure. COPD is an illness that encompasses two major illnesses these illnesses are chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Both of these illnesses wreak havoc on the lungs of the affected person by causing mucus to build up in the bronchioles henceforth reducing the effectiveness of the alveoli which impairs gas exchange. According to the American Lung Association, “COPD is the third leading cause of death in the United States. More than 11 million people have been diagnosed with COPD, but an estimated 24 million may have the disease without even knowing it” (American Lung Association [ALA], n.d.). As this data from the American Lung Association shows, in the United States alone we may have a total of 35 million people (almost one tenth of the American population) living with COPD. QSEN, which stands for Quality and Safety Education for Nurses, has developed six competencies related to nursing care. These competencies are Patient-Centered Care, Teamwork and Collaboration, Evidence-Based Practice, Quality Improvement, Safety, and Informatics. These aforementioned QSEN competencies break down how nurses should be treating patients and working with the health care team.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, also known as COPD, is the third leading cause of death in the United States. COPD includes extensive lungs diseases such as emphysema, non-reversible asthma, specific forms of bronchiectasis, and chronic bronchitis. This disease restricts the flow of air in and out of the lungs. Ways in which these limitations may occur include the loss of elasticity in the air sacs and throughout the airways, the destruction of the walls between air sacs, the inflammation or thickening of airway walls, or the overproduction of mucus in airways which can lead to blockage. Throughout this paper I am going to explain the main causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and ways to reduce COPD.

The United States has two lung diseases categorized under the definition of COPD. They are emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

There are no cure for this disease. However, there are different treatment to prevent further deterioration of the lungs function in order to improve the quality of life of the patient by increasing capacity of their physical activity. One of the main severe complication a patient with COPD can develop is exacerbation. Increased breathlessness, increased sputum volume and purulent sputum are the signs and symptoms of exacerbation. Early detection of the signs of exacerbation can help keep the condition of the patient from worsening. The treatments of COPD mainly aims at controlling the symptoms of exacerbation such as taking inhalers. Patients who are over the age of 35 and ex-smokers with chronic cough and bronchitis are recommended to have spirometer (NICE, 2004). This is because it is possible to delay or prevent patients from developing severe case of COPD is identified before they lose their lungs functions. Oxygen therapy is another treatment for COPD as the patients with this condition has high

The risk factors of COPD include genetic factors as well as environmental causes. The chief risk factor for COPD is smoking; which also includes people exposed to enormous amounts of secondhand smoke. However, there are certainly other causes that can increase the risk of a person developing the disease such as dust and chemicals. Long term exposure to their fumes, vapors or particles can also cause the swelling of lungs (Eisner et al., 2010).

Medications include combination inhalers, inhaled steroids, antibiotics, theophylline, phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors, oral steroids and bronchodilators. Bronchodilators are given via inhaler, and they are for airway muscle relaxation. Inhaled steroids are for inflammation of the airways. And combination inhalers are for both (“COPD”). The main lifestyle change that a person with COPD should make is to stop smoking altogether.