PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to examine descriptors of dyspnea and clinical characteristics in patients with COPD at ED visit. METHOD: The study design was a descriptive survey, and 46 patients with COPD complaining of dyspnea were participated during their visits to the ED of C university hospital in G city, from October 1, 2004 to April 8, 2005. RESULT: The qualitative characteristics of dyspnea at the time of decision to the ED visit were short of breath (71.7%), tight (32.6%), hard to breathe (15.2%), smothering or suffocating (10.9%), gasping (8.7%), couldn't breathe (6.5%), constricted (2.2%), and hunger for air (2.2%). In the item of dyspnea checklists, My chest felt tight was the most common description among subjects. As the result of factor analysis of dyspnea checklists, the first factor was characterized rapid and shallow, the second was suffocating/smothering, the third was hunger for air, and the fourth was constricted. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that a checklist of dyspnea descriptors based on this findings would be utilized as a tool of initial and ongoing assessment for dyspneic patients with COPD in the ED after identifying the validity and reliability of the checklist.
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