The Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a condition that affects the respiratory system. Two common forms of COPD are chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The two conditions may occur together or separately. The condition takes long to cure and is exacerbated by unhealthy behavior like cigarette smoking. The symptoms of the disease include cough, dyspnea, combination of other respiratory infections, wheezes and general body weakness. Patients are frequently admitted to the hospital, thus, increasing the cost of management. In this connection, the condition management is the most effective when it is carried through home based care. Home based care involves breathing exercises and activities that help maintain muscles strength ,(Hadjiliadis, 2011).

The effectiveness of the management regime will highly depend on the patient’s presentation. The condition presentation will vary from one patient to another in terms of presentation, complication and coping mechanism of a patient. Incorporation of the best-proven practices in the management of this condition and taking into consideration a patient values and beliefs is highly recommended. The concept of evidence based nursing care consists in the ability to incorporate a variety of sources and apply them to the care (treatment) process with the purpose to get optimum results. It is evidence based practice that will help nurses to be able to avoid trial errors and hence improve patient’s safety. Researches and recommendations need to be transformed into knowledge before they are applied practically. Therefore, the evidence based practice will help nurses maintain competence in care delivery (Cooper, 2011).

Home care for COPD will help make sound decision and implement leadership style that will motivate the stakeholders. For instance, involving nurses in decision making regarding care process will provoke development of interest in desease treatment. The involvement also creates a forum for self-correction and improvement of one’s knowledge and skills in  COPD management. It is leadership that makes an individual develop the spirit of commitment to work, dedication and responsibility. These attributes enhance the quality of care given; thus, promoting the education level of nurses. On the same note, once the spirit of being responsible has been developed, the need to advocate for a patient grows. In this sense, nurses will understand the need to improve their skills for better services.

Quality services for better patient outcomes are attained through improved abilities of practitioners and patient cooperation in the management regime. The varied nature of an individual targeted on care delivery is often affected by beliefs and diversity of the society where home care is being offered (Ellenbecker, 2008). Understanding the causes of human diversity such as ethnics, race, social class, religion and geographical background of the patient is vital in COPD management. However, these differences should be used to establish new ideas in COPD management rather than creating boundaries and discrimination.  As professionals, nurses need to embrace the ethical principles in COPD management to enhance improvement of their abilities thus to achieve better patient outcome. Ethical principles are guidelines that dictate the extent of moral actions. The principle of beneficence can be demonstrated through striving to achieve better for the patient.

Master’s in Nursing Programs facilitate the acquiring of knowledge on leadership, research skills, educator roles and knowledge on profession improvement. These skills and acquired knowledge can be applied effectively to COPD home based care process. The leadership role is required for the continuous motivation, direction, coordination, organization and spearheading the care management (Northouse, 2007). The research knowledge will be useful in developing new approaches to the management of COPD. The knowledge will also be of immense importance in determining the factors that are significances in COPD condition development and management in home based care. The acquired educator roles will necessitate an individual to dispatch acquired  knowledge to the other management team. The graduate can also involve community, family and the infected person in the care through educating them on the management program. Moreover, an individual can participate in improving the theories, and strategies used in the nursing profession concurring with the current needs of the patients.

The trend in the nursing profession demand scientific based and proven care implementation. The nursing career is based on taking care and restoration of health among the clients. The care rendered in this practicum among COPD nursing will enhance the development of responsible behavior among nurses. Moreover, the practicum will help depict the best-evidenced care programs that can be used in the future for care improvement. In general, the practicum will play a part in the development of the nursing career through research work, enhancing collaboration, and health promotion.

The decision to undertake a practicum in this field (COPD in home care) was motivated by the idea of identification of a need in the society. Therefore, the participation and the experience attained in this practicum will act as a force in pursuing personal learning objectives. The learning process is highly effective when the practical bit is combined with the theory (Mckenna, 2008). Thus, the objective of Master’s level of leaning such as articulation of perspectives on nursing and demonstration of leadership skills necessary for change in the profession among others will be achieved in this practicum.

In conclusion, the practicum summary illustrates such aspects as importance of evidence based care, leadership and theories involvement in care  improvement, importance of embracing ethical principles, using human diversity to improve patient outcome, application of masters knowledge to COPD management as well as usefulness of the practicum in nursing career.