Abstract

This article presents a literature review of the benefits of pulmonary
rehabilitation in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD). Pulmonary rehabilitation has been shown to
decrease patient mortality and hospital admissions. The literature
search resulted in 13 articles being selected for review. Three themes
were identified: improvement in exercise tolerance, improvement
in breathlessness and improvement in health-related quality of life.
This review enhances our knowledge of the mechanisms through
which pulmonary rehabilitation benefits patients and provides an
evidence base to guide nursing decisions regarding patient education,
health promotion and psychological support.