Managing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): A Case Study

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Nursing assignment
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Introduction
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory lung disease
that causes the obstructed the airflow from the lungs. Signs and symptoms may include breathing
difficulty, coughing, mucus production and wheezing in patient (Ponikowski et al., 2016). This
case study presents one such health condition of the patient, Mr Georgeo Polaris who is2 years of
Italian man admitted to the hospital with shortness of breath and coughing. After admission to
the ward for chest infection treatment, he went through a series of respiratory examinations and
diagnosis report suggested that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Moreover, he had the
history of gastro-oesophagal reflux disease. He was prescribed with intravenous antibiotics, type
four therapy and bronchodilators for managing the situation. After admission to the hospital, his
shortness of breath worsens, and he had lost several kilos. The purpose of the study is to manage
the situation of the patient and provide care to the patient. Therefore, the paper will illustrate the
potential health concerns for the client, two appropriate education topics for client education,
two strategies for educating clients to manage situation and reflection on how own cultural
believes and values influence the interaction with the patient in following paragraphs.
Discussion :
Major health concern of the patient:
COPD is defined as a type of progressive lung disease that causes the permanent damage
to the tissues in the lungs and making it hard for the patient to breath. In this case study, the
patient who was a 62years Old Italian man admitted to the hospital due to shortness of the breath
and coughing. After admission to the hospital, he was diagnosed with COPD. In this situation,

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the potential health concern is shortness of breathing. The chest tightness, coughing and
wheezing that observed in COPD are generally due to the airway obstruction which manifested
as the decreased airway flow rate over the entire vital capacity of lungs (Atherton et al., 2016).
Consequently, forced expiratory volume diminishes in 1 second. Therefore, this airway
obstruction resulted in predominantly from smooth muscle spasm. COPD usually become
becomes symptomatic with the shortness of breathing in individuals older than 45 years of age
and frequently, associated with active or passive smoking, air pollution and occupational
exposure as observed in this case study (Bartunek et al., 2015). George stated that he was a
smoker since he was 14 years old and he was working in the construction industry. Smoking has
a massive effect on the COPD and accounts for as many as 8 to 10 COPD related death in
Australia (Cadrin-Tourigny et al.,2015). Smoking during the childhood and teenager slows down
the growth and development lungs and consequently, increases the risk of COPD in adulthood.
He was admitted to the hospital with productive coughing and fever. In productive coughing, the
mucous has been produced in the chest give rise to the feeling of congestion and tight chest
(Bartunek et al., 2015). Moreover, being a labor of construction industry has the massive
contribution in the development of COPD. The prime reason behind this is that cement has
sensitising, pneumoconiosis properties and enters into the body through the respiratory tract.
Therefore, it gives rise to bronchoconstrictor response to inhaled stimuli. He was prescribed with
salbutamol, tiotropium and esomeprazole magnesium.
The two topics for client education:
From the case study, it is evident that the patient was diagnosed with the COPD after
admitted to the hospital with shortness of breath. As observed in this case study, the patient
stated that he worked in the construction industry and he was smoker since 14 years old. These

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NURSING ASSIGNMENT
two factors majorly contributed to the development of the COPD. In such situation, the first
factor for client education would be how smoking has the massive impact on the progression of
COPD and quitting smoking has immediate and substantial health benefits on a patient
(Daskalopoulou et al., 2015). Recent studies suggest that despite the nature of COPD is wide
spreading; cessation of smoking has remarkable health benefits to a smoker suffering from the
disease. In the slow progression of the disease, quit smoking leads to the improvement in
symptoms such as productive coughing and wheezing. In severe cases, quitting smoking slowly
stabilizes the shortness of breath in the patient and rapidly reduces the frequency of
coughing(Carthon, Lasater, Sloane & Kutney-Lee, 2015). Smoking cessations slow down the
decline in the forced expiratory volume of air expelled in one second and reduce the risk of
bacterial colonisation by improving the natural defence mechanism of the body (Jiménez-Ruiz et
al., 2015). Therefore, to improve the health conditions, clients need to have an appropriate
education about the disease. In this case, study, since the patient was working on the construction
industry, how occupational hazard influence the progression of conditions should be another
topic for client education. Occupational exposure has been shown to associated with COPD.
However, it is not possible to quite a job to slow down the progression of the disease. Hence, the
use of a simple face mask can slows down the disease progression since it prevents the entry of
fine cement dust into the respiratory tract (Harris et al., 2017). The use of nebulised salbutamol
in working place can slow down the progression of the disease. Moreover, washing hands,
avoiding the crowded area and staying hydrated significantly reduced the COPD.
Quitting smoking gradually slows down the progression of COPD by stabilizing the
shortness of the breathing.After gaining the sound knowledge about the quitting smoking and its
health benefits, the patient would be able to manage the disease (Riley, 2015). During the