Effectiveness of Education Given to Patients With COPD

COPD, which is one of the most common respiratory system diseases, is an important global health problem. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which is a disease with significant mortality and morbidity, is characterized by progressive air flow obstruction; it is irreversible and accompanied by multiple symptoms and frequent exacerbations. Among the leading causes of death, COPD is in the fourth place in the world, while it is in the third place in our country.

At the end of the physiopathological processes that occur in COPD, respiratory function is severely impaired, and individuals experience significant levels of limitations while performing their daily living activities due to shortness of breath, cough, fatigue and insomnia. Long-term drug therapy is used commonly to control these limitations in patients with COPD. Increased dyspnea, activity intolerance, long lasting oxygen and drug therapy, social intolerance and chronic hypoxia cause a decrease in the quality of life and psychological problems. It is important for patients to have sufficient level of self-care agency and to take responsibility for their self-care to control COPD symptoms. Self-care management consists of behaviors performed to manage the symptoms of the disease or to manage the side effects of the treatment. In patients with COPD, self-care is specifically important since it can improve health-related quality of life and decrease hospitalization and dispnea.

One of the necessary steps to improve the symptoms and limitations caused by the physiopathological processes that occur in COPD is drug therapy. A large number of drug groups are used in COPD treatment. The aim of drug therapy in COPD is eliminating the symptoms, improving exercise tolerance and health status and increasing future risks (prevention and treatment of attacks, prevention of disease progression and decrease in mortality). Stable COPD treatment should be individualized depending on the symptoms of patients. In patients with COPD, the problem of compliance with medication due to reasons such as insufficient or no training on medication, cognitive or physical insufficiency of patients, educational and sociocultural level difference of patients, not choosing the device suitable for patients, misuse of drug, or the inability to use the drug are very common among patients. Patients should be able to transform rational drug use into behavior and have the required knowledge and attitude levels. In this context, the responsibility of nurses for educating and informing patients emerges.

Education is very important in terms of improving the self-care skills of patients with COPD, increasing their functional abilities, using drugs properly, managing the disease processes and improving quality of life. The effects of the education given on different parameters have been evaluated in literature. Therefore, it is thought that the education given to patients about COPD management may contribute to increasing the self-care agency of the patient and to rational use of drugs. This study was conducted to find out the effects of COPD management education given to patients diagnosed with COPD on self-care agency and rational drug use.