Volume 3, Number 3, June 2009

How to care for patients with end-stage COPD
Heather Matthews

Practice nurses often get to know their patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) very well. Over the years, they have attended for reviews, flu injections and when they have exacerbations. Nurses get to know their families as well as the patient, and it can be hard to observe the inevitable deterioration as the condition progresses. This article will outline some of the key issues for practice nurses when their patients start to have frequent hospital admissions or cannot attend the surgery for reviews. Has their condition become palliative, and what can practice nurses contribute to their care?

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