Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a condition in which cough, constant secretions and shortness of breath progressively decrease patients' quality of life. Patients with COPD often suffer from sudden episodes of symptom worsening, known as acute exacerbations. These episodes have a negative impact on patients' general health and often lead to hospitalizations. Recovery from exacerbations can be accelerated when patients know the specific actions to take during these episodes, which can include taking additional medication and contacting their nurse case manager. This is known as patient self-management and should always be supported by written instructions and constant monitoring from healthcare professionals. A strategy to ensure optimal self-management is the use of phone interactive systems. These systems allow patients to regularly communicate their health status to case managers. In the present study, we evaluated whether the use of an interactive phone tele-system had a positive impact on patients' self-management actions during COPD exacerbations. For one year, patients with a diagnosis COPD received scheduled calls from an automated phone tele-system. Patients could also contact the tele-system directly if they experienced any change in their symptoms. In the event of an exacerbation, the tele-system issued alarms that were viewed by nurse case managers, who in turn followed-up patients by phone. Patients' actions during COPD exacerbations were recorded in detail through monthly evaluations. The majority of patients contacted their nurse case manager by phone within three days of exacerbation onset, which is a desirable behaviour. After one year of tele-system use, patients greatly improved their confidence to manage exacerbation episodes. In conclusion, this phone interactive tele-system was beneficial as a support tool for the management of COPD exacerbations