EFFECTIVENESS OF AN OUTREACH COPD TEAM AT REDUCING HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS

The purpose of this small audit was to establish if the COPD outreach team had an impact at reducing hospital admissions. The data was randomly selected from a cohort of 73 patients who had had at least one admission in the 12-month period prior to enrolment between August 99-April 2003. The hospital admission database for numbers of admissions and length of stay with acute exacerbations of COPD for this cohort was examined, comparing the 12-month period prior to enrolment onto the COPD outreach service and 12-month period post enrolment.

Interventions employed by the COPD outreach team consisted of:

Ensuring patients were on optimal drug therapy

Providing patient education, support and advice

Tailoring home visits to individual patients needs.

The audit demonstrated that the total number of admissions in this cohort fell from 115 in the year prior to enrolment to 73 in the year following enrolment (p<0.01). Similarly, the total number of bed days fell from 881 to 560 (p<0.01).

This small study provides evidence that the COPD outreach service is effective in reducing the total number of admissions and length of stay in a group of patients with COPD and a history of recurrent admissions.

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