Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 28, 2026

Home-Based Prescribed Pulmonary Exercise in Patients with Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Published on: August 24, 2019
Randomised controlled trial of home based care of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Oshana Hermiz1, Elizabeth Comino, Guy Marks
1School of Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
Objectives:
To evaluate usefulness of limited community based care for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease after discharge from hospital.
Design:
Randomised controlled trial.
Setting:
Liverpool Health Service and Macarthur Health Service in outer metropolitan Sydney between September 1999 and July 2000.
Participants:
177 patients randomised into an intervention group (84 patients) and a control group (93 patients) which received current usual care.
Interventions:
Home visits by community nurse at one and four weeks after discharge and preventive general practitioner care.
Main Outcome Measures:
Frequency of patients' presentation and admission to hospital; changes in patients' disease-specific quality of life, measured with St George's respiratory questionnaire, over three months after discharge; patients' knowledge of illness, self management, and satisfaction with care at discharge and three months later; frequency of general practitioner and nurse visits and their satisfaction with care.
Results:
Intervention and control groups showed no differences in presentation or admission to hospital or in overall functional status. However, the intervention group improved their activity scores and the control group worsened their symptom scores. While intervention group patients received more visits from community nurses and were more satisfied with their care, involvement of general practitioners was much less (with only 31% (22) remembering receiving a care plan). Patients in the intervention group had higher knowledge scores and were more satisfied. There were no differences in general practitioner visits or management.
Conclusions:
This brief intervention after acute care improved patients' knowledge and some aspects of quality of life. However, it failed to prevent presentation and readmission to hospital.
Related Concept Videos
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-IV: Assessement and Diagnostic Studies
Medical History
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-V: Nursing Management
Assessment
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Smoking is a primary risk factor for COPD, with over 80% of patients having a history of it. Patients typically experience progressive dyspnea or labored breathing, frequent coughing, and recurrent pulmonary infections. Many eventually succumb to respiratory failure, characterized by...
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-V: Management
Smoking Cessation
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-I: Introduction
COPD: Management Using Bronchodilators and Corticosteroids