Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) management in the community: how could primary care team contribute?

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive lung disease commonly encountered in primary care. This study aimed to audit COPD care at primary care clinics of Hong Kong and to work out improvement strategies.

All COPD patients aged 40 or above who had been followed up at 13 public primary care clinics of Kowloon Central Cluster (KCC) under the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong (HAHK) were included in this clinic audit. Evidence-based audit criteria and performance standards were established after thorough literature review. Phase 1 was from 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017, with deficiencies of care identified. It was followed by a one-year implementation phase through which a series of improvement strategies were executed. Outcome of the enhancement was reviewed during Phase 2 from 1st April 2018 to 31st March 2019. Chi-square test and student's t test were used to detect statistically significant changes between Phase 1 and Phase 2.

A total of 2358 COPD cases were identified in Phase 1 where 658 of them were smokers. Of those smokers, 332 (50.5%) had been referred to Smoking Counselling and Cessation Service (SCCS) and 289 (43.9%) actually attended it. 991 cases (42%) received Seasonal Influenza Vaccine (SIV) and 938 cases (39.8%) received Pneumococcal Vaccine (PCV). 698 patients (29.6%) had spirometry done before and 423 patients (17.9%) had been admitted to hospital due to acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD). With the concerted effort taken during the implementation phase, Phase 2 data showed significant improvement in nearly all criteria. There was a marked increase in the SIV and PCV uptake rate, spirometry performance rate and most importantly, a significant reduction in AECOPD rate leading to hospital admission (13.5%, P = 0.000043). However, the referral rate and attendance rate of SCCS among smokers remained stagnant (P > 0.05).

Via a systematic team approach, COPD care at primary care clinics of KCC under HAHK had been significantly improved for most of the audit criteria, which in turn reduced the burden of the healthcare system.