Telehealth for patients living with COPD and co-existing conditions: experiences of healthcare and implications for the design of acceptable and appropriate home-based telehealth systems
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Living with COPD and co-existing conditions: Experiences of Healthcare and Implications for the design of acceptable and appropriate home-based telehealth systems
IRAS ID
186433
Contact name
Patrick Mercado Kierkegaard
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 30 days
Research summary
In the UK, an estimated 3.7 million people have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and over three quarters of those are unaware that they have the condition. COPD is a term for a group of serious lung diseases that includes chronic bronchitis, emphysema and small airways disease. Patients with COPD experience breathing difficulties, symptoms of shortness of breath, persistent coughing and marked restrictions of their activities of daily living. COPD usually worsens over time, but an early diagnosis and treatment plan can slow down the changes in people’s lungs. Providing management and support for the physical and psychological impacts of COPD can also improve an individual’s ability to self-manage their condition and reduce hospital stays.
Current treatment plans for managing COPD are based on following clinical guidelines, however, these guidelines are primarily single-disease focused and do not adequately take into account the presence of co-existing conditions. COPD patients are inherently at high risk of developing co-existing conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis and muscle weakness.
Effectively managing COPD requires requires: (1) the routine screening and monitoring for symptoms of co-existing chronic conditions; and (2) increasing healthcare professional’s abilities to access and share information in an effective and timely manner in order to coordinate the patients care.
Using interviews with healthcare professionals and patients, this study aims to to gain a deeper insight of their perspectives concerning current care management strategies and identify where an advanced home-based telehealth system can better support the entire care pathway for COPD patients with co-existing conditions such as through improved monitoring and care coordination. The results will contribute to the knowledge base of care management for COPD and multimorbidity because it will explore the implications of design for a whole-patient home telehealth system for a group of patients with complex medical problems.
REC name
Wales REC 7
REC reference
15/WA/0402
Date of REC Opinion
6 Nov 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion