The 2017 Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease Report and Practice Implications for the Respiratory Therapist

Since 1998, the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) has worked with health care professionals, medical researchers, and public health officials around the world to optimize the prevention, treatment, and management of COPD. GOLD has continually worked to ensure COPD management strategy recommendations are aligned with current published research. The 2017 GOLD report represents a major revision to GOLD strategy guidelines, the first such major revision in the last 5 years. As such, the 2017 report has significant implications for the diagnosis of COPD, the management of stable disease, and the treatment of exacerbations. As respiratory therapists (RTs) are front-line clinical professionals throughout the COPD continuum of care, a thorough understanding of the new GOLD recommendations for practice is critical. New recommendations regarding diagnosis, severity assessment, and both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment of COPD are presented, and suggestions for how RTs can integrate these recommendations into COPD care practices are provided.