Society of Hospital Medicine COPD Implementation Toolkit

This 180-page Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) toolkit is designed to help clinicians, medical directors and health care administrators to improve the care of patients who are hospitalized for an exacerbation of COPD. The guide devotes sections to implementing and sustaining a quality improvement project; best front-line care practices, including promising practices in organizing care teams, risk assessment, pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapies, ventilation and comorbidities; as well as developing, implementing and evaluating interventions. Attention is paid to improving transitions of care for those with COPD, including medication reconciliation efforts, pulmonary rehabilitation and patient and family education and self-management support. Palliative and end-of-life care are also discussed. Relevant models, checklists and tools (e.g., draft COPD order set, information on designing and implementing a COPD care bundle) are included throughout the chapters and in an appendix.