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August 2004
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The COPD-X Checklist: a new tool for GPs and General Physicians
 In order to make the COPD-X Management Guidelines and Handbook more accessible to General Practitioners and General Physicians, a simple checklist has been devised. The checklist follows the format of COPD-X, but has simplified a 96-page document into a two sided flip card. This card provides quick prompts to remind GPs of the highlights for assessment and management of patients with COPD.
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Early management of COPD exacerbations appears to improve patient outcome
In an article in a June 2004 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, it was noted that patients with COPD often delay presentation or fail to seek therapy. The COPD-X Guidelines sponsored by The Australian Lung Foundation also points to the high risk of mortality in the year that follows a severe exacerbation requiring hospital admission, and issues associated with exacerbations. The COPD Handbook indicates the importance of prevention and also notes that “early diagnosis of exacerbations of COPD and prompt, appropriate treatment may prevent progressive functional deterioration and reduce the necessity for admission to hospital.”
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The COPD-X Action Plan
According to the COPD Handbook and a fairly large volume of literature, “there is evidence that patients with chronic illness who participate in self-management have better outcomes… than those who do not.” and also “a typical self-management plan might include instructions for maintenance therapy, exacerbations and crises.”
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Woodsmoke: The Burning Health Issues
 Dr James Markos (pictured), Respiratory Physician in the beautiful city of Launceston and ALF State Council Chairman in Tasmania, is passionately interested in the issue of pollution and its effects on lung disease. In Northern Tasmania, his clinical experience has alerted him to the problem of woodsmoke smog and exacerbations of COPD and asthma.
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LungNet Seminars and World COPD Day– Promoting the Importance of Lung Disease
Part of the role of The Australian Lung Foundation is to both reach out to the public by raising the profile of lung disorders (especially, but by no means exclusively, the most prevalent disease - COPD) and offer continuing assistance to patients and carers - for example through updating knowledge of their problems.
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In this issue:
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