Respiratory medicine
Rescue packs for COPD: problem or panacea?
AECOPD are defined as an acute worsening of the respiratory symptoms associated with COPD, including cough, breathlessness and sputum production and which require additional therapy (NICE, 2019a;...
How safe are e-cigarettes for patients with COPD? A systematic review
This systematic review focused on identifying quantitative empirical research, providing numerical data detailing the effect of e-cigarette use on pulmonary health outcomes. The PICO model...
NEWS FOCUS
A campaign to increase uptake of cervical screening will run until mid-March across England, including TV advertising, video on demand and social media. The Help Us Help You – Cervical Screening Saves...
COPD, exacerbation and self-management: a literature review
COPD prevalence is also associated with socioeconomic deprivation and high-risk occupational industrial areas, and environmental and metabolic risk factors have the highest impact on disease...
Assessment and examination of the respiratory system
Taking a patient history is an essential element in establishing a diagnosis and is used to get a deeper understanding of the patient's symptoms. The purpose of a systematic health history is to...
Identification and management of dysfunctional breathing in primary care
The ‘breathing drive’ is responsive to the body's requirements detected by feedforward and feedback loops from the brain and receptors in the respiratory system, with underlying ‘background’ control...
Diagnosing COPD in general practice
Long-term exposure to risk factors such as tobacco smoking – the most common cause of COPD – and symptoms caused by progressive lung damage are often present before individuals seek a diagnosis. The...
World COPD Day: supporting people to live well with COPD
It is important to ensure from the moment someone presents at their GP practice with symptoms of COPD that they get support for smoking cessation if they smoke. Having a conversation with patients...
New approaches to an old challenge: what can we do about smoking?
Raising the subject of smoking with patients should be standard practice in all healthcare settings, but we know from a study published by Cancer Research UK (2019a) that only 53% of primary care...
Back to school with asthma in 2021
Back to school planning in 2021 may be hampered by a primary care system facing a backlog of care, plus a patient population who may be reluctant to access care. According to surveys by Asthma UK...
Living with long COVID
The new guideline for NICE (2021) recommends that patients presenting with new or ongoing symptoms 4 weeks or later after an initial COVID-19 infection should have the following investigations done: a...
Winter worries
Paediatric A&Es are reporting that they have had the busiest couple of months on record, with one doctor saying ‘We are effectively running a winter-level emergency department response in the...
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