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Background: Chronic obstructive pulmomary disease (COPD) is associated with substantial mortality, morbidity, and costs to the health care system. With the increasing interest in outreach care programmes it is important to evaluate their impact upon patients and health services, for conditions such as COPD.

Aim: To determine the effectiveness of an outreach respiratory nurse in a shared care approach, with collaboration between general practitioners and hospital services, in the management of patients with severe COPD.

Methods: Patients with severe COPD attending The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide participated in a randomised controlled trial of a home based nursing intervention (HBNI) over 12 months with outcome measures including mortality rate, hospital service utilisation, FEV₁ and health related quality of life (HRQL) using a modified Dartmouth Primary Care Co‐operative Quality of Life …