dornan, marksayed, majidah2026-04-202026https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14154/78715Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality globally. In the United Kingdom alone, COPD accounts for approximately one million hospital bed days and over £3 billion in annual healthcare costs. Despite established guidelines from GOLD, NICE, and the British Thoracic Society, a persistent gap remains between evidence-based recommendations and frontline medical-surgical nursing practice. Medical-surgical nurses are well positioned to deliver structured COPD interventions, yet their contributions remain underutilised due to inadequate respiratory training, role ambiguity, and fragmented care systems. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate evidence-based nurse-led interventions for COPD management within medical-surgical settings and assess their impact on patient outcomes. Method: A systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Five electronic databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, and Cochrane Library) were searched, yielding seven primary studies for inclusion after rigorous screening. Studies were critically appraised and synthesised using an analytical framework integrating the Chronic Care Model, GOLD guidelines, and the Social-Ecological Model. Findings: Structured nurse-led interventions – including self-management education, pulmonary rehabilitation, advance care planning, and psychosocial support – demonstrated meaningful improvements in quality of life, reduced hospital admissions, enhanced exercise capacity, and, in some cases, reduced mortality. Multicomponent programmes sustained beyond twelve months yielded the most pronounced and durable benefits, while six-year follow-up data provided compelling evidence of long-term reductions in mortality and cardiovascular complications. However, socio-demographic factors such as income, health literacy, geographic location, and the quality of nurse–patient relationships significantly moderated intervention effectiveness, with social determinants capable of undermining even well-designed programmes. Conclusion: Nurse-led, evidence-based COPD interventions can substantially improve patient outcomes when adequately resourced and sustained. Realising this potential requires investment in respiratory-specific nursing education, standardised discharge pathways, routine psychosocial screening, digital health infrastructure, and policy frameworks that formally recognise and support the contribution of nursing in chronic disease management. Keywords: COPD, nurse-led interventions, evidence-based practice, medical-surgical nursing, self-management, systematic review85enNursingCOPDThesis