Making a COPD nursing care plan for patients is not a fingertip task. It requires a neck-breaking effort from nurses to handle these patients as they are always at a higher risk of experiencing severe symptoms, even leading to death.
According to the World Health Organization, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. In 2021 alone, it claimed the lives of 3.5 million people. The condition tends to affect older adults more severely than younger individuals. As a result, creating care plans for COPD patients requires nurses to give their full attention whether they are assessing the patient’s current medical condition or reviewing their medical history.
This guide will mention all the steps that expert nurses follow when making a care plan for patients experiencing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Let’s read till the end to learn how to make this plan, especially when you are busy with your academic activities.
An Expert Guide on How to Create a Nursing Care Plan for COPD
Almost 5% of COPD patients pass away for a number of reasons, whether due to weak immunity or poor treatment facilities – according to a report by the World Health Organization. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a severe issue related to the lungs, making it harder for patients to breathe easily. Sometimes, this disease is accompanied by other diseases, which are also fatal for the patient.
Creating a nursing care plan, especially for complex conditions like COPD, can be challenging and demands close attention to detail. For nursing students already juggling academic responsibilities such as assignments, this process can feel as difficult as climbing a steep hill. Fortunately, the best assignment writing services provide reliable support, helping students complete their academic tasks on time.
Here are the steps that you can follow as a nurse to make a perfect plan for COPD patients.
1. Start with Diagnosis and Assessment
Like a traditional way of handling a patient experiencing any minor or major disease, you will assess the current medical condition of an individual. This diagnosis and the process of assessment will help you in defining the next step of the care plan.
Usually, a patient with COPD has the following symptoms:
- Wheezing: The sound of a high-pitched whistle that you can listen to when the airways of a patient are blocked.
- Persistent Coughing: When an individual has not been diagnosed with COPD yet, they would be suffering from a persistent cough, whether dry or with mucus.
- Unintentional Weight Loss: Just check what the weight of a patient is over the last months after experiencing cough-related symptoms.
- Frequent Respiratory Issues: A patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease frequently experiences respiratory problems.
- Chest Tightness: This is another common symptom most people suffer from. It makes breathing not only difficult but also painful.
- Fatigue: Due to continuous ailment and the usage of medications, individuals usually face fatigue symptoms, where they don’t want to do any physical activity.
- Dyspnea: This is a symptom when the lungs of the patient don’t get oxygen in the amount required by the body.
- Increased Mucus Production: The production of secretion made in the body of a patient with COPD increases; mostly, they will have more phlegm coming out when coughing.
While assessing these conditions, you, as a nurse, will also take a look at the medical history of the patient. Check for whether there is any other patient with COPD in the family or not. During the assessment and diagnosis, you may need to ask questions in a polite way that a patient feels attached to you.
2. Educate Your Patients
Let’s assume that an individual is diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Here, the real part of the care plans starts. You will, by all means, educate your patients about this disease, its causes, and future options for treatment.
Here is a list of the topics you can talk about with your patient after the diagnosis:
- Causes of COPD: The World Health Organization says that most patients experience this disease because of smoking and air pollution. Let’s say your patient has been smoking cigarettes over the last few years, and you believe this is the only reason behind this health condition. Don’t make them feel bad about this habit. Just talk about the causes in a general way.
- Change in Habits: Mention the habits that your patient needs to change, it can be quitting smoking or migrating to a new place. This will be the most important part of the nursing care plan for patients experiencing acute pain. You can explain the benefits of leaving these habits instead of describing the negative sides.
- Medication Options: Being a professional nurse, it’s your duty to inform the patient about all the treatment options. You can tell them about all the medication options, from tablets to long-acting bronchodilators. Clear communication with the patient helps them understand the upcoming expenditures associated with the treatment.
- COPD Management: You can convey to your patient professionally that COPD will not be curable completely. Individuals with this health condition have to manage it by taking continuous measures. Plus, you can motivate patients by saying that managing it will be easy for them with proper guidance.
3. Nursing Actions or Interventions
Your actions and interventions, whether in a nursing care plan for hypertension or COPD, have great significance for the well-being of patients. During this part of the plan, you will focus on the treatment options. For example, you will not use oxygen masks on patients if they are not facing breathing problems. Moreover, avoid administering non-steroidal and anti-inflammatory medications in them as they can bring severity to the symptoms.
As a professional nurse, you will continuously monitor the saturation of oxygen levels in the body. Even if you have to admit a patient to the hospital, you have to do it. Along with that, you will be monitoring the breathing patterns of a patient at intervals. You will have a close look at the chest sounds and functioning of the lungs so that the recovery process can be tracked in an efficient way.
These are some goals you need to set when taking action for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease:
- Make sure the breathing and pulse rate of patients remain normal throughout the day.
- Ask the individual to take medications on time, every day, or administer these medications yourself.
- Sleep is very important in the treatment process. Highlight its importance in front of them so that they can ensure adequate sleep every night.
- Most COPD patients become disappointed due to their current condition. Giving them hope is your most important duty to make them take part in daily activities.
4. Highlight the Importance of Preventing Complications
We know highlighting the importance of preventing complications during COPD can be a difficult task for a nurse, especially when they are busy writing a research paper or other academic activities. However, stressing the significance of preventing these complications will be beneficial for patients. Generally, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease brings other symptoms, weakening the immune system of patients.
You can list a number of measures essential for a patient to follow. For example, you can ask him to set a routine of repeating breathing exercises. These exercises can be a decisive factor in reducing the severity of COPD. Adopting a particular way of coughing will also go in favour of a patient. You can teach them how to cough when feeling a strong urge.
During sleep, many patients have a habit of not frequently changing their position. As a result, they may face breathing obstruction during sleep or phlegm may build up on their chests. Advise them to continuously change their sleeping position and increase their fluid intake.
5. Improves the Life Quality
The key focus of a nurse when making a care plan for COPD is to improve the quality of life of a patient. Patients experience mental issues when going through this health condition and don’t find it comfortable while interacting with others, perhaps due to continuous fatigue. A nurse can analyse the current situation of the patient and add or exclude things from the care plan. Remember that a perfect plan must be customised.
The following are the measures that can be taken to make the nursing care plan work exceptionally for a patient:
Disease Management Program
Due to low self-esteem, it is difficult for patients to overcome COPD on their own. A lack of guidance can exacerbate the condition and cause severe damage. The previous data shows us that disease management programs work effectively and are associated with fewer visits to hospitals. These programs can include self-treatment and education, just to mention a few.
Refer Them to Dieticians
This is a common symptom of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that a patient will experience weight loss. Usually, this weight is unintentional and they will start losing weight without following a diet plan. Therefore, paying attention to the diet of such individuals is essential for their physical and mental health. To achieve optimal health, you can refer them to a dietician so that they can start again a healthy life.
Discourage Smoking
A good number of COPD patients have a habit of smoking cigarettes on a daily basis. Such people can’t control their symptoms if they don’t stop being addicted to this habit. Therefore, a nurse has to plan to ask patients to quit smoking, no matter how difficult it is for them. Saying goodbye to caffeine addiction can be a real challenge for most people, and you can provide support to them in such moments.
What Are the 5 Steps of a Nursing Care Plan?
Nurses, when handling patients with different diseases, usually follow these five steps in a care plan. However, these steps may be less or more based on a patient’s condition and other individual factors, such as age. The five steps are assessment, diagnosing, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
All these steps involve different activities and measures. For instance, in an assessment, a nurse evaluates the current condition of an individual and asks about the family history related to health conditions. At the diagnosis phase, a nurse may conduct several blood tests or physical exams. Planning and implementation include the administration of medications. During the evaluation, a nurse checks how the treatment is showing efficacy.
What Are the 5 C’s of Nursing Care?
The 5 C’s are the backbone of any nursing care plan, whether for COPD, pain, or hypertension. These C’s include care, compassion, competence, communication, and commitment. Care is a fundamental aspect of nursing showing that a nurse will focus on the well-being of a patient, while compassion shows the level of understanding of nurses of how deeply they are connected with a patient.
Competency includes the skill of the nursing staff and what abilities they have to provide treatment and care to patients. Communication between a nurse and patient keeps everything organised. Commitment shows the level of dedication of the nurse to his patient.
What Are the 5 Stages of Nurse Patient Relationship in Order?
The five stages of the nurse-patient relationship, in order, are:
- Pre-Interaction Phase: A nurse prepares by reviewing patient records.
- Orientation Phase: The nurse establishes trust and explains their role.
- Working Phase: A nurse actively provides care and implements interventions.
- Termination Phase: Preparing an individual for discharge and review of progress.
- Post-Interaction Phase: The nurse reflects on the relationship and evaluates personal feelings.
Final Verdict
It can be a hard-to-overcome challenge for a nurse to make a care plan for a patient experiencing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Since this disease has multiple severe symptoms and weakens the immune system, a nurse has to consider all the aspects of treatment for a plan. It may take days to make an effective plan for such a patient, especially when a nurse is busy with academic activities.
If you are a nurse torn between crafting a detailed care plan and meeting assignment deadlines, prioritising patient care is the right choice. To ease your academic burden, hire UK-based assignment writing firms. These professionals can complete your tasks efficiently without compromising quality. Focus on what you do best caring for patients while letting dedicated writers handle the rest.
Author Bio
Michael Bravo is a professional assignment writer with a strong background in academic research. He specialises in crafting high-quality assignments in various subjects, including social sciences and humanities.
