Nursing Diagnosis For COPD Essay

A nursing diagnosis for COPD could be anxiety for a lot of people. The majority of people who have COPD struggle with anxiety. The reason is because when someone is having a hard time breathing, there brain tells them that something is wrong and freaks out, causing them to have anxiety. Anxiety is a feeling of worry or panic that arises from thoughts or do not have immediate relevance. When somebody is experiencing anxiety, the brain sends signals for more air, which can cause the heart rate to rise. Then you need more oxygen to keep up with the heart rate, which then they find themselves needing more air and breathing harder and faster. People may have anxiety just thinking about what if they start having a hard time breathing. Just the feeling

Some of the people with COPD can’t even get out of bed without breathing hard. Exercise and activity limitations are high for these people. Its hard for them to breath and they don’t want to take the chance of not being able to breath. So they need education on why they need to try and do stuff themselves to get healthier and taking shortcuts are okay such as teaching them to slow the speed at which they usually do stuff at, its ok if they stop and take a break when they are tired, and to pace their activities. They can sit on a chair in the shower, or brushing their hair. They can also wear slip on shoes instead of having to bend over and tie them. These are just little things that will help COPD people with their everyday activities. Some people get depressed because they can’t do the stuff they used to do and end up not wanting to do anything, but educating them will help them understand that it is okay to take breaks and it will help them in the long run. COPD people can depend on people a lot because for them its easier if other people just do it. This can effect they health and their equality of life. When they don’t move because they are asking other people to help them, its just making it worse for themselves because then they don’t get the exercise they need and eventually they can’t even do ADLs by themselves anymore. A nursing intervention can be to gradually increase activity with the person, allowing that person to position themselves, transfer, and do as much self care as they possible can. Teach patients to dangle from the side of the bed to reduce dizziness when they stand up. This will prevent falls and hurting themselves. Letting them move around on there on and letting them do stuff for themselves will help maintain their muscle strength, tone, and endurance. This will help their bones from getting frail and weak. Another nursing intervention is to teach the person to control