The effects of health education given by nurses to COPD patients on the daily oxygen concentrator usage time.

INTRODUCTION: Long-term oxygen therapy is the most effective method which has been shown to prolong the lifespan in people with COPD. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of health education given by nurses to patients with COPD on the daily oxygen concentrator (OC) usage time.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was carried out in a State Hospital, Turkey, between July and November 2015. After given consent to the study, participants were divided into intervention and control groups by simple random sampling method. Then data forms were filled during face-to-face interview. Firstly, the data describing patients' arrival times were collected retrospectively. Afterwards, the patients from the intervention group were educated through educational booklets prepared by the researchers. They were phoned in the weeks 4, 8 and 12th for problems they might have encountered during the use of OC. After the 14th week, data forms of patients from the both groups were filled again; the results were compared with previous clinical findings. Data were analysed using SPSS 15.0 for Windows.

RESULTS: It was determined that 95.5% of patients did not get information about the use of OC. Daily OC usage time (hour) by patients in the intervention group firstly amounted to 5.69 ± 3.90, later on to 11.94 ± 4.73 (p < 0.05). Whereas when clinical findings concerning pre- and post educational periods were compared; a significant improvement in PaO₂, PaCO2, FEV₁ and SaO₂ of patients in the intervention group (p<0.05) was shown, contrary to the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: It may be recommended that patients receive continuous education and close monitoring of their results.