'INSPIRED' COPD Outreach Program™: doing the right things right

The well-documented gaps between needed and provided care for patients and families living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mandate changes to clinical practice. The multifaceted evidence-based INSPIRED COPD Outreach Program™ was first implemented in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 2010 (INSPIRED = Implementing a Novel and Supportive Program of Individualized care for patients and families living with REspiratory Disease) and undergoes ongoing evaluation. By enhancing patient confidence to manage their illness more effectively in their homes and communities, there has been a sustained and substantial reduction in facility-based care in comparison with patient care experience pre-INSPIRED. Sustaining and spreading a program recently designated a leading practice by Accreditation Canada, and especially modifying the program as new evidence emerges, requires integrating and modeling at the 'bedside' both evidence-based medicine ('doing the right things') and quality improvement ('doing them right'). In Canada, where COPD care gaps are common, a new pan-Canadian INSPIRED-based quality improvement program is supporting multidisciplinary healthcare teams to bridge the chasm between evidence and practice by working together to 'do the right things right' in COPD care.