COPD EXIT

For the vulnerable and fragile group of patients with advanced chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their caregivers, the severe
exacerbations and frequent transitions between hospital and home-based care are extremely stressful and insecure. Healthcare providers lack information on how to manage their complex, interrelated physical and psychological symptoms. The overall aim of the COPD-EXIT project is to explore the psychophysiological processes that emerge upon hospital discharge after a severe COPD-exacerbation and explore risk factors for re-exacerbation and/or readmission. The specific objectives of the present project are:

1. To use technological devices to monitor and photo-document, in situ and
second-by-second, which types of activities, surroundings and states that
trigger physiological arousal for patients with COPD upon hospital discharge
after a COPD-exacerbation.
2. To examine how objective measurement of physiological factors is associated
with patient- and caregiver-reported measures of psychological distress,
exacerbation triggers, activities of daily living and physical symptoms.
3. To follow patients over time with the purpose of exploring objectively
measured and self-reported factors’ association with readmission and
mortality rates at 7,30 and 90 days after hospital discharge.
4. To explore the subjective experience of the transition from hospital to own
home after a COPD-exacerbation from the perspective of patients with
COPD-exacerbation and their caregivers.