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COPD/Asthmaasthma

A 19-year-old male with a history of asthma requiring two previous admissions to the intensive care unit presents to the emergency department with the chief complaint of increased shortness of breath and wheezing unresponsive to inhalers.

How will you document this case?
Click the best choice below. (Click the Patient Chart icon for additional information about the case. Click the Pearls icon for some important points about COPD diagnoses.)

patient chart pearls



 

 

 

 

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COPD – Pearls

  • COPD only qualifies as a CC during an “acute exacerbation.”

  • Rarely is COPD the principal diagnosis, because exacerbations of COPD are most often accompanied by another acute respiratory illness such as pneumonia or acute respiratory failure.

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