Assignment: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Due to Smoking Presentation

Assignment: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Due to Smoking Presentation

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death worldwide, causing 3.23 million deaths in 2019 [1].
Over 80% of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
COPD causes persistent and progressive respiratory symptoms, including difficulty in breathing, cough and/or phlegm production.
COPD results from long-term exposure to harmful gases and particles combined with individual factors, including events which influence lung growth in childhood and genetics.
Environmental exposure to tobacco smoke, indoor air pollution, and occupational dusts, fumes, and chemicals are important risk factors for COPD.
Early diagnosis and treatment, including smoking cessation support, is needed to slow the progression of symptoms and reduce flare-ups.
What is COPD?

COPD is a common, preventable, and treatable chronic lung disease which affects men and women worldwide.

Abnormalities in the small airways of the lungs lead to limitation of airflow in and out of the lungs. A number of processes cause the airways to become narrow. There may be destruction of parts of the lung, mucus blocking the airways, and inflammation and swelling of the airway lining.

COPD is sometimes called “emphysema” or “chronic bronchitis”. Emphysema usually refers to destruction of the tiny air sacs at the end of the airways in the lungs. Chronic bronchitis refers to a chronic cough with the production of phlegm resulting from inflammation in the airways.

COPD and asthma share common symptoms (cough, wheeze, and difficulty breathing) and people may have both conditions.

The impact of COPD on daily life
Common symptoms of COPD develop from mid-life onwards, including:

breathlessness or difficulty breathing,
chronic cough, often with phlegm,
tiredness.
As COPD progresses, people find it more difficult to carry out their normal daily activities, often due to breathlessness. There may be a considerable financial burden due to limitation of workplace and home productivity, and costs of medical treatment.

During flare-ups, people with COPD find their symptoms become much worse – they may need to receive extra treatment at home or be admitted to hospital for emergency care. Severe flare-ups can be life-threatening.

People with COPD often have other medical conditions such as heart disease, osteoporosis, musculoskeletal disorders, lung cancer, depression and anxiety.

Causes of COPD
COPD develops gradually over time, often resulting from a combination of risk factors:

tobacco exposure from active smoking or passive exposure to second-hand smoke;
occupational exposure to dusts, fumes or chemicals;
indoor air pollution: biomass fuel (wood, animal dung, crop residue) or coal is frequently used for cooking and heating in low- and middle-income countries with high levels of smoke exposure;
early life events such as poor growth in utero, prematurity, and frequent or severe respiratory infections in childhood that prevent maximum lung growth;
asthma in childhood; and
a rare genetic condition called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, which can cause COPD at a young age.

Reducing the burden of COPD
There is no cure for COPD but early diagnosis and treatment are important to slow the progression of symptoms and reduce the risk of flare-ups.

COPD should be suspected if a person has typical symptoms, and the diagnosis confirmed by a breathing test called spirometry, which measures how the lungs are working. In low- and middle-income countries, spirometry is often not available and so the diagnosis may be missed.

There are several actions that people with COPD can take to improve their overall health and help control their COPD:

stop smoking: people with COPD should be offered support to quit smoking;
take regular exercise; and
get vaccinated against pneumonia, influenza and coronavirus.
Inhaled medication can be used to improve symptoms and reduce flare-ups. There are different types of inhaled medication which work in different ways and can be given in combination inhalers, if available.

Some inhalers open the airways – they may be given regularly to prevent or reduce symptoms, and to relieve symptoms during acute flare-ups. Inhaled corticosteroids are sometimes given in combination with these to reduce inflammation in the lungs.

Inhalers must be taken using the correct technique, and in some cases with a spacer device to help deliver the medication into the airways more effectively. Access to inhalers is limited in many low- and middle-income countries – in 2019 salbutamol inhalers were generally available in primary care public health facilities in approximately half of low-income countries [2].

Flare-ups are often caused by a respiratory infection – people may be given an antibiotic or steroid tablets in addition to inhaled or nebulised treatment as needed.

People living with COPD must be given information about their condition, treatment and self-care to help them to stay as active and healthy as possible.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource