Life Care Plan for Patients Suffering from COPD

Life Care Plan for Patients Suffering from COPD

Introduction

This paper intends to discuss the life of patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and the need of effective care delivery. The main purpose of this paper is to make a life care plan for the patients who are acutely suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Patients with advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) live and die with an irreversible and progressive respiratory illness. Symptoms in the later stages are often worse than those for patients with advanced lung cancer. Traditional treatments for COPD have largely centered on a biomedical model of care with insufficient attention paid to the psychosocial components of the illness and the palliative needs of patients and their families. An uncertain disease trajectory, poor prognostication and healthcare providers' reluctance to discuss end-of-life issues are some of the reasons why patients with COPD do not often receive palliative care measures (Jeanne, 2010).

Discussion

Care for COPD focuses on the physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and existential needs of patients with life threatening or debilitating illness. The aim is to relieve symptom burden and improve quality of life. While traditional palliative care services have focused on cancer, where 3 out of every 4 Americans die in an ICU or on the medical floors of hospitals from other chronic illnesses and only rarely receive palliative care treatments, consults or admissions to palliative care units (Marie et.al 2010).

When patients move through the healthcare system, they should not feel as though they are being shifted from one department to another nor feel they should not "belong to a unit". We need to be more flexible in our approach. The team best equipped to deal with the patients' needs should be the team who sees them regardless of what floor they occupy. Over the course of lengthy chronic illnesses, clinicians and patients have opportunities to create relationships. Most patients would want their end of life care to be provided by healthcare professionals they have had contact with and with whom they feel comfortable (Martin et.al, 2004). Palliative and end-of-life care education for clinicians needs to match this need and clinical educators should assist clinicians in understanding how to address the physiologic, psychological, and social issues related to palliation and end-of-life care (Lynn et.al 2000).

Case of COPD

Ms. Juana Fernandez is a woman of 80 who lives alone at home since the death of her husband 3 years ago. She lives in a domicile is a floor of 80 meters in a second floor without lift, with three bedrooms and a bathroom complete with bath. She has two children living in a nearby town and going to visit a while, or phone call once a week each and alternating weekends to devote more time to her care.

Juana has a COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary) for 10 years, which produces moderate dyspnea rhythmic efforts, two pillow orthopnea and ankle edema usual, and hypertension, which requires dietary and drug treatment and regular monitoring of itself.

For your breathing problem Juana intermittent ...