British Thoracic Society quality standards for home oxygen use in adults.

Introduction: The purpose of the quality standards document is to provide healthcare professionals, commissioners, service providers and patients with a guide to standards of care that should be met for home oxygen provision in the UK, together with measurable markers of good practice. Quality statements are based on the British Thoracic Society (BTS) Guideline for Home Oxygen Use in Adults.

Methods: Development of BTS Quality Standards follows the BTS process of quality standard production based on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence process manual for the development of quality standards.

Home telemonitoring and quality of life in stable, optimised chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

We conducted a six-month randomised controlled trial of home telemonitoring for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A total of 40 stable patients with moderate to severe COPD who had completed pulmonary rehabilitation took part. They were randomised to receive standard care (controls) or standard care plus home telemonitoring (intervention).

Does home telemonitoring after pulmonary rehabilitation reduce healthcare use in optimized COPD? A pilot randomized trial.

Aim: To see if home telemonitors reduce healthcare use in those with optimized chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: We randomized 40 stable patients with moderate to severe COPD, who had completed at least 12 sessions of outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), to receive standard care (Controls) for 52 weeks or standard care plus Docobo HealthHUB monitors at home for 26 weeks followed by 26 weeks standard care (Tm Group). During the monitoring period, the Tm Group completed symptoms and physical observations twice daily which were stored and then uploaded at 2 am through a freephone landline.

Reducing COPD admissions with a specialist chronic disease management team.

This article describes the implementation of a specialist community team working with acute care services to manage patients with COPD. It resulted in a sustained reduction in hospital admissions over one year.

Prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients with severe COPD: similar high levels with and without LTOT.

The benefits of long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) on mood in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are unproven. Longitudinal studies are affected by disease progression, the increased package of care (with LTOT) and may not control for known confounders on mood. We compared the point prevalence and severity of mood disturbance in patients with severe COPD, not on LTOT (the -LTOT group) to those with COPD on LTOT (the +LTOT group).