Acute dyspnea as perceived by patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Like pain, dyspnea, or difficulty in breathing, is a strong subjective experience of physiologial distress. Using a model developed by DeVito, this study focused on the emotional aspects of the acute experience of dyspnea in patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on a medical unit and explored nursing activities that eased the intensity of the symptoms. The study was descriptive in design and used a semistructured interview format with four open-ended questions and a numerical self-assessment of dyspnea using the Modified 0-10 Borg Scale (MBS). The sample included 41 hospitalized patients with COPD between the ages of 43 and 89 years who had experienced episodes of acute dyspnea both prior to and during their current inpatient stays. This article provides descriptions of the experience of dyspnea, identifies themes from the participants' responses, notes the patients'perceptions of the efficacy of nursing actions, and extends the use of the MBS to an inpatient population.