Acute Medicine | Respiratory | Non-drug management of breathlessness

Non-drug management of breathlessness
Session overview
Description
This session reviews non-drug interventions within an integrated approach to the management of breathlessness.

This session was reviewed by Richard Kitchen and last updated in March 2020.

Learning objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• list the main non-drug options used to alleviate the symptom of breathlessness in end of life care patients
• outline the utility and limitations of these approaches
• recognise other breathlessness management interventions that are used alongside as part of an integrated approach to symptom control

Prerequisites
Before commencing this session you should complete:

• Assessment of breathlessness (215-0412)
• Drug management of breathlessness (215-0413)

We have learnt that apart from the physical effects of dyspnoea (breathlessness) such as exercise limitation, there are also profound adverse emotional difficulties such as anxiety, panic and depression. Management strategies will need to address all of these aspects.

In the earlier stages of a disease it is usual to employ disease modification as the mainstay of treatment, sometimes with non-drug strategies aimed at improving quality of life. As the disease progresses there will be more reliance on pure symptomatic management, using both drugs and non-drug strategies.

In this session we first consider how non-drug interventions can modify the causes of breathlessness due to cancer within the chest. Then other non-drug (also known as non-pharmacological) approaches to alleviate breathlessness are considered. Finally the role of non-invasive ventilation is discussed.