Title:Patient Education and Telemedicine in COPD - Update 2015
VOLUME: 11 ISSUE: 3
Author(s):Patrycja Rzepka-Wrona, Szymon Skoczynski, Grzegorz Brozek, Joshua Lawson, Klaudia Glinka, Agnieszka Jarosinska, Igor Radziewicz Winnicki, Marcin Nowak and Adam Barczyk
Affiliation:Department of Pneumology, School of Medicine in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland. Ul. Medykow 14, 40-752 Katowice, Poland.
Keywords:COPD education, COPD telemonitoring.
Abstract:Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) remains the fourth recognized cause of death worldwide.
Smoking is known as the most important risk factor for COPD with nicotine abstinence being the most effective COPD
prophylaxis. Smoking cessation programs are less effective and may be considered as disease secondary prevention actions
with smoking cessation slowing down lung function decline.
Severe exacerbations, if not treated, on time (no comma) are responsible for the highest number of lung related deaths
among COPD patients. As the definition of COPD exacerbation may be subjective, attributing symptoms to an exacerbation
can be difficult, especially among less educated patients. This problem may be even more important in areas where
the doctor/patient ratio is small and where patients need to travel long distances to obtain consultation and medical help.
For these reasons COPD telemonitoring programs are being tested and implemented in some countries.
This review is an updated overview of the current scientific evidence regarding patient education and telemonitoring implementation
in COPD, based on the article on this topic published herein in 2013.
The evidence provided, herein, is presented to help identify the effectiveness of education and telemonitoring in COPD in
societies with different economies.
