TY - JOUR T1 - Manage growing demand: Respiratory nurse clinic keeps people with COPD healthy JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p1315 AU - Shu Wah Steve Ng AU - Wai Yee Tsang AU - Chung Leung Henry Poon AU - Lee Veronica Chan AU - Chung Ming Chu Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p1315.abstract N2 - Introduction: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) was ranked second as a respiratory cause of hospitalization (14.6%) and inpatient bed-days (20.5%) among common respiratory diseases in Hong Kong. A pilot of Respiratory Nurse Clinic for COPD has been implemented since December 2009 in United Christian Hospital in Hong Kong. It focused on reducing the need for intensive medical care for COPD patients. This preliminary review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the clinic.Methodology: The Respiratory Nurse Clinic for COPD was run by qualified Respiratory Nurses and accredited locally since December 2009. Confirmed COPD patients who were high risk of hospitalization could be recruited. The key components of the program included patient registry, risk stratification, different models/levels of care with holistic approach, home non-invasive ventilator program, patient empowerment program and 24-hours hotline service.Results: The first 100 COPD patients were analyzed for their healthcare utilization for three months before and after joining the clinic. Their mean age was 74.6±7.26. More than 90% of them were severe or very severe COPD. It was statistically significant showing that the number of emergency department attendance was reduced by 40.07% from 5.39 to 3.23 times (p<0.001). Also, the total numbers of unplanned admission and the length of stay were reduced by 44.5% from 1.91 to 1.06 (p<0.001) times and 49.5% from 5.81 to 3.05 days (p<0.001) respectively. The mean Modified Borg Scale was reduced from 2.88 to 2.02 (p<0.001).Conclusions: The Respiratory Nurse Clinic could significantly reduce the healthcare utilization of the COPD patients and control their symptom. ER -