Clinical Academic Fellow in the University of Southampton
NIHR CLAHRC Wessex – Theme 1 – Integrated Respiratory Care
I’m Nuno Tavares, a staff nurse at Queen Alexandra Hospital and I’m also a PhD student carrying out research for NIHR CLAHRC Wessex and Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust. My research is about improving end of life care for patients with COPD.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is characterised as a slowly progressive disease, with advanced disease frequently resulting in increased exacerbations and hospital admissions, the need for life-saving interventions, and poor quality of life. Moreover, COPD is often associated with breathlessness, anxiety, depression, lack of energy, anorexia and restricted mobility.
COPD is the leading cause of respiratory related deaths and is the fourth overall leading cause of death in the world. In the UK, an estimate of 3 million people have COPD, with 2 million of them remaining undiagnosed, in total COPD is responsible for around 30,000 deaths every year.
The quality and the proportion of patients with COPD who receive palliative care compare poorly to the care received by patients with cancer. Several studies show that most patients do not discuss end of life issues with their physicians, even though they may wish to. Figures show that around 77% of all patients never discussed end of life care with their healthcare professional, yet about 62% report the desire to have such conversations. The vast majority of patients believe that their physicians do not understand their preferences for end-of-life care. My research specifically looks at end of life care discussions between healthcare professionals, such as doctors and nurses, and patients with COPD. The development of this research will improve standards of end of life care for people with COPD and their relatives, enable healthcare professionals to start conversations in an early stage, reduce hospital admissions, reduce futile treatments and reduce overall costs.
clahrcwessexnews 
I have just been diagnosed with Bronchiectasis so this could be of interest to me in the future.
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Hello Margaret, please feel free to get in touch with us. Good to hear from you 🙂
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Dear Margaret, thank you very much for your interest in the study. Although bronchiectasis is slightly different from COPD, they have some similarities, especially some of the symptoms. If you required any more information, please feel free to contact me. In the meantime, I will be keeping the blog updated with more information about the study. Thank you very much
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Do you have any leaflets on Bronchiectasis please. MargaretBell
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Hi Margaret – here’s a link to a BLF leaflet – https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0221/4446/files/FL8-Bronchiectasis-2014-v2.pdf?6660
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Dear Claricwessex, Many thanks for your kind efforts to find the leaflet from BFL on Bronchiectasis I appreciate it very much. Good wishes for your work. MargaretBell
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Dear Margaret, I don’t specifically have any leaflets in bronchiactesis, but I have found a very interesting one from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital: https://guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/patient-information/therapies/physiotherapy/Bronchiectasis.pdf Thank you very much
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Dear Nuno Tavares Thank you so much for leaflet from Guy’s about Bronchiectasis it is most helpful and ensured I understand much more about my condition. As I am nearly 80 ( and did have whooping cough very badly at age 5 when evacuated on farm in Shropshire) I consider I have done very well, I don’t expect to be offered physiotherapy but I walk every day and can do deep breathing myself and am fit otherwise. All good wishes in your good work. Thanks again Margaret Bell
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