Airwaves
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
In this months issue we publish the timely British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines on intermediate care in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which refer to the treatment models bridging the interface between hospital and community care. Intermediate care is multidisciplinary and requires organisation and cooperation of various healthcare professionals. Recent healthcare policies in the UK have emphasised the importance of transferring more care out of hospital, although, as the guidelines point out, there are many questions still to be addressed about the service development and implementation. I am sure you will find these guidelines very useful in your local practice and the concept of "hospital at home" encompasses both admission avoidance and early discharge in COPD patients at exacerbations. The challenge for all of us interested in the care of COPD patients is to ensure that we develop and evaluate carefully any "intermediate" interventions.
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Randomised controlled trial
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