Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Course #98813 - $60 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects approximately 44 million persons worldwide and is the fourth leading cause of death. Patients characteristically have symptoms consistent with chronic bronchitis and emphysema, but the classic triad also includes asthma. New developments in recent decades have led to the increased use of spirometry, an acknowledgment of airflow obstruction as the central issue in determining susceptibility, and improved pathologic criteria and laboratory means for assessing emphysema and COPD. The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) definition signifies a paradigm shift in the clinical approach to COPD; it proposes that the disease is both treatable and preventable. Therefore, it is important to educate patients with COPD about the disease and to encourage their operative sharing in therapy. This course is designed to present healthcare professionals with the information needed to keep up to date on the best practice clinical guidelines for COPD and to refresh the importance of patient education.
- INTRODUCTION
- DEFINITIONS
- PATHOGENESIS
- PATHOLOGY
- PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
- CLINICAL FEATURES
- DIAGNOSIS AND CLINICAL ASSESSMENT
- ASSESSMENT OF COPD SEVERITY
- RISK REDUCTION
- MANAGEMENT OF STABLE COPD
- MANAGEMENT OF EXACERBATIONS
- MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT
- COMORBIDITIES
- SUMMARY
- Works Cited
- Evidence-Based Practice Recommendations Citations
This course is designed for physicians, primary care providers, nurses, respiratory therapists, and medical assistants involved in the care of patients with COPD.
The purpose of this course is to provide healthcare professionals a current review of pathogenesis, diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphasizing strategies for prevention and best practice clinical guidelines for managing the stable patient and COPD exacerbations.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Define chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and associated conditions.
- Identify risk factors and discuss the role of cigarette use, infection, and chronic inflammation in the pathogenesis and progression of COPD.
- Correlate pathologic changes in the lung with the clinical features of COPD.
- Describe the pathophysiology of airflow limitation and air trapping.
- Recognize and evaluate the clinical signs and symptoms of COPD.
- Analyze the various criteria and tests used in the diagnosis of COPD.
- Discuss the investigations used to assess the severity and to stage COPD.
- Identify interventions that may reduce the risk of developing COPD, including smoking cessation.
- Outline pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic options for the management of stable COPD.
- Use your knowledge of pathophysiology and options for therapy to devise a strategy for managing COPD exacerbations in the ambulatory setting or in the hospital.
- Describe the appropriate monitoring and assessment of COPD disease progression, as well as associated comorbidities.
John M. Leonard, MD, Professor of Medicine Emeritus, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, completed his post-graduate clinical training at the Yale and Vanderbilt University Medical Centers before joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 1974. He is a clinician-educator and for many years served as director of residency training and student educational programs for the Vanderbilt University Department of Medicine. Over a career span of 40 years, Dr. Leonard conducted an active practice of general internal medicine and an inpatient consulting practice of infectious diseases.
Contributing faculty, John M. Leonard, MD, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
John V. Jurica, MD, MPH
Margo A. Halm, RN, PhD, NEA-BC, FAAN
The division planners have disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.
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The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.