Introducing a self-care training program with home-based followup nurse for COPD patients and its effectiveness on pulmonary function tests

Introduction: Self-care education is one of the standards of care in the patients with chronicobstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Implementation of home-based education andfollow-up programs are among the professional duties of nurses and a part of communitybasedcare in chronic patients. Aim is to determine the effectiveness of a nurse-led self-careeducation program with home-based telephone follow-ups on pulmonary function of COPDpatients.Methods and Material: This quasi-experimental was done on COPD patients, who wereconsecutively referred to the respiratory outpatient clinic of a university hospital in Isfahanbetween. Participants randomly allocated to control(n=۳۶) and intervention(n=۴۰) groups.After ensuring the homogeneity of two groups, a self-care education program was held inintervention group according to a training manual and clients’ needs assessment, once faceto-face with at least ۳weekly telephone calls and follow-ups. Usual medical follow-up andtreatment continued in both groups. Each subject evaluated for respiratory function (SPO۲and FEV۱/FVC) prior to entering to study and ۳months later. Independent t-test, paired t-testand Chi-square test through SPSS۱۸ software.Results: At the beginning, mean SPO۲(۸۹.۳±۵ in intervention and ۸۸.۷±۵ in control) andalso meanFEV۱/FVC (۷۲.۹±۱۵ in intervention and ۷۱.۸±۱۲ in control) showed no significantdifference(P>۰.۰۵). Three months after beginning the study, mean changes of the SPO۲ inthe intervention group (۳.۰۲±۲.۵) was significantly different from the control group(۰.۵۵±۶.۳). But about FEV۱/FVC, despite positive significant changes in bothgroups(P<۰.۰۳), there were no significant differences between two groups (۷.۱±۲۰ inintervention and ۸.۷±۱۷ in control) (P>۰.۰۵).Conclusions: Improvement of the oxygenation of the intervention group could be due to theintervention and better pulmonary function on FEV۱/FVC of both groups after interventioncan be due to treatment measures under the supervision of specialists. Continuing researchwith a longer follow-up period is recommended to assess re-hospitalization and costeffectivenessof the study on other outpatient services.

Keywords:

Self-care education , telephone follow-up , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) , pulmonary function tests , nurse's role , Follow-up nurse