A Personalized, Home-Based, Multidisciplinary Outpatient Clinic for Managing Breathlessness in Chronic Obstructive...

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary Medicine
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Breathlessness significantly impacts quality of life for COPD patients.
• Home-based interventions may offer effective management strategies for chronic breathlessness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the Macarthur Breathless Clinic's (MBC) impact on breathlessness burden and healthcare utilization in COPD patients.
• To explore patient and carer experiences with the MBC intervention.

Main Methods:

• A single-site, mixed-methods, single-arm cohort study evaluating the 9-week MBC program.
• Participants with COPD and chronic breathlessness underwent holistic assessment and self-management coaching.
• Outcomes measured include breathlessness mastery, quality of life, healthcare use, and exacerbation rates over 52 weeks.

Main Results:

• Recruitment is complete with 92 participants enrolled.
• Data collection and analysis are ongoing; results are anticipated by early 2027.

Conclusions:

• This study is the first to investigate long-term outcomes of a health service intervention for COPD-related chronic breathlessness.
• Positive findings could lead to integrating MBC strategies into standard COPD care models.