Respiratory Disorders Brittany Barbeau NURS14178 Vasanthy Harnanan March 26, 2014 1. Briefly describe asthma in a way that Mr. TG and his wife would understand. What pathophysiology is occurring which makes it difficult for Mr. TG to breathe? Asthma is a chronic disease that makes it difficult to breathe. The airways to the lungs swell up and become inflamed, which narrows the air passageway to the lungs and the lungs cannot receive the amount of oxygen that it needs. “Mucus builds up inside the airways so you have trouble getting air in and out of your lungs.” (Pope, 2002, p.44). If the lungs do not receive the essential amount of air, it will cause a lot of distress and wheezing to the patient. 2. Discuss at least four different methods that can be used to diagnose asthma and the results you would expect to see in Mr. TG’s case. Doctors may use a physical exam to diagnose asthma; they’ll listen to the lungs of the patient who was experiencing asthma symptoms with the use of a stethoscope. A chest x-ray could be used as well to determine the diagnoses by ruling out other lung diseases. The allergy test can also diagnose asthma because of the skin prick test which can determine what allergens could make the asthma symptoms worse or the ones that can trigger the asthma. Lastly, a blood test could also be useful in determining if they have asthma. In Mr. TG case, the results of his tests would determine that he does have asthma. 3. What are some of the questions that you might ask Mr. TG, when gathering his history, to get a better sense of what triggered his attack? Explain your answer. To figure out what triggered Mr. TG’s asthma attack I would ask what he was doing at the time of the attack and has he ever had an ... ... middle of paper ... ... Handout on asthma triggers. (https://www.ucalgary.ca/icancontrolasthma/triggersall) 1. Discuss what asthma is to determine if the client has an understanding of it. 2. Discuss the differences between Salbutamol and Flovent. 3. Discuss the triggers of an asthma attack. 4. Allow client to ask questions; respond according to the question appropriately.. References Pope, B. (2002). ProQuest Science Journals. Asthma. 32(5) 44. Retrieved from: http://media.proquest.com.library.sheridanc.on.ca/media/pq/classic/doc/119382514/fmt/pi/rep/NONE?hl=&cit%3Aauth=Pope%2C+Barbara+B&cit%3Atitle=Asthma&cit% Potter, P.A. & Perry, A.G. (2009). Fundamentals of Nursing (7th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby Elsevier. The Canadian Lung Association (September 24, 2012). Asthma. What is asthma? Retrieved from: https://www.lung.ca/diseases-maladies/asthma-asthme/what-quoi/index_e.php
Secondly, severe asthma can be life-threatening. Suffering from asthma can be frightening to experience and people often feel scared and anxious. The fear and scare can also lead to breathlessness and so mak...
Aim: The aim of this assignment will be to research the basic structure and function of Human Lungs and the respiratory condition known as asthma, and how its effects on the human lungs, looking at the causes and treatments used to prevent and treat the illness.
Saunders has a history of asthma and in conjunction with a respiratory assessment an asthma assessment will be required. A brief patient history is needed to evaluate, looking for a history of rapid onset, exaggerated use of β-agonists and mechanical ventilation for asthma. Symptoms sound is taken into account, in the case of Mr. Saunders he is experiencing shortness of breath, speaking in short sentences, presenting wheezing, flushed appearance as well as dyspnoea. Additionally, the severity of the symptoms should be taken into account, how often they occur and whether they cause exercise limitations or nocturnal wakening (Kaufman, 2012). It is also important to establish any medications whether it be prescribed, over the counter, or herbal remedies that the patient may be taking as some medications have been known to exacerbate asthma (Kaufman, 2012). In addition to exploring clinical history, it is also important to obtain objective data to support the diagnosis (Kaufman, 2012). Physical examinations are a part of an asthma assessment and are very essential to help backup the diagnosis. Respiratory rate, heart rate and pulse paradoxus are all sections of the physical examination. In conjunction with these a spirometry is also required. A spirometry is best pathway of identifying airflow obstruction which will make a definitive diagnosis of asthma (Kaufman, 2012). This assessment required the patient to use maximum force to expel the air from their lungs, as fast and hard as possible. This process is measure over 1 second and conducted 3 times, thus the highest recording of the three is taken (Kaufman, 2012). A result lower than 70% strongly indicates airway obstruction; hence lower the ratio, the more severity of the obstruction (Kaufman,
Asthma is a condition of the bronchial tubes characterized by episodes of constriction and increased mucous production. A person with asthma has bronchial tubes that are super sensitive to various stimuli, or triggers, that can produce asthma symptom.In other words, asthmatics have special sensitivity that causes their lung tissue to react far more than is should to various stimulating factors or triggers. For this reason, people with asthma are said to have "twitchy airways."Some symptoms that people with asthma commonly experience are chest tightenings, difficulty inhaling and exhaling, wheezing, production of large amounts of mucous in their windpipes and coughing.Coughing can be frequent or intermittent, and can be loose-reflecting extra mucous secretion in the airways or dry and deep-reflecting tight bronchospasms. Not all these symptoms occur in every case of asthma.Sometimes people may have coughing without and symptoms for months or even years before it's realized that they are asthmatic. Interestingly enough, asthma symptoms are most severe at night, while we're lying down our airways narrow as a result of gravity changes. Also our lungs do not clear secretions as well at night, which leads to mucous retention, and that can increase the obstruction to air flow.
Physicians typically diagnose asthma by looking for the classic symptoms: episodic problems with breathing that include wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. When symptoms alone fail to establish a diagnosis of asthma, doctors may use spirometry, a test that measures airflow. By comparing a patient’s normal airflow, airflow during an attack, and airflow after the application of asthma medication, doctors determine whether the medicine improves the patient’s breathing problems. If asthma medication helps, doctors usually diagnose the condition as asthma.
A diagnosis is the first step in coming terms with effective asthma treatments. One way to test for asthma is a physical exam, which is where health professionals ask questions about signs and symptoms, and other possible health issues. Lung function tests can determine the amount of air that moves in and out as you breathe. (Mayo Clinic) Spirometry is another process that estimates the narrowing of bronchial tubes by checking how much air an individual can exhale after a deep breath and how fast the patient breathes out. Peak flow meters are a common test procedure for asthma.1 The peak flow meter is a device that measures how hard you breathe out or exhale. Lower readings on the meter shows a diminished lung capacity resulting in less effective breathing. It is generally a strong signal that an individual's asthma may be getting worse.2 These measurements are taken again after the use of bronchodilators such as Albuterol to open your airways. If the inhaler impr...
Goals of treatment include interventions to help maintain good lung function (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). Asthma is treated with long-term control and quick relief medications (U. S. Department of Health and human Services, 2014). The severity of symptoms will dictate a medical treatment plan. As advanced practice nurses, we need to help asthma patients identify their triggers. This aspect is individualized based on the recognition of symptoms that lead to exacerbations. A few of common triggers include smoke, weather, pollen, and food. Additionally, we need to provide them with education related to their disease process.
When people hear the word asthma, the first thing that comes to mind is a nerd wheezing and taking an inhaler almost every five minutes, but that is not the case for everyone who is diagnosed with this disease. A person with asthma will often wheeze, become breathless, experience tightness in the chest, and cough at night or early in the morning. Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition and a disease marked by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, caused by chronic inflammation within the breathing passages. This may...
Most of you may not think of asthma as a killer disease, yet more that 5,000 Americans die of asthma each year. According to the Mayo Clinic web page, asthma also accounts for more that 400,000 hospital discharges annually. As the number of people with asthma increases, the more likely you are to come in contact with a person who has the disease. As far as I can remember, I have had asthma my whole life. My mother and one of my sisters also have asthma, so I have a first hand experience with it. This morning, I will discuss some interesting facts about asthma, I will specifically focus on what it is, warning signs, symptoms, causes, and the treatments that are used.
Physician diagnosis of asthma for greater than or equal to 3 years and a diagnosis of severe persistent asthma forgreater than or equal to 1 year to screening
Asthma itself is an inflammatory disease characterized by increased airway responsiveness due to a variety of stimulus. The inflammation causes the hyper-responsiveness than in turn causes bronchiolar smooth muscle constriction, resulting in obstruction of airflow. Some “triggers” of asthma include:
Asthma is a respiratory disease that causes the airways of the lungs to swell, which leads to wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing. Usually the coughing happens at night or early in the morning. When the muscles around the airways become tight that limits the amount of air that can pass through. The attacks can last for minutes or days. Asthma can affect people of all ages, but often starts in your childhood. There are more than 25 million people that are known to have asthma and seven million of them are children. There are four levels of asthma, but knowing the different symptoms, knowing how asthma is diagnosed, and knowing the triggers of asthma and how to avoid them is very important.
Asthma is a disease that affects the lungs. The symptoms of asthma are heavy wheezing, another is being breathless and having coughing episodes in the nighttime and early morning, another symptom is tightening of the chest. An easy way to treat asthma is to have a special medication that helps control your coughing and wheezing episodes. Asthma is also triggered by your allergies so it is best to avoid stuff that trigger your allergies such as staying away from pollen or is pet dander causes your allergies to flare up then that could cause your asthma to react to the pollen and other allergies. Asthma is when your windpipe closes and you have trouble breathing which is caused by an irritant in the air and around the world and in the
Mr. TG is still in respiratory distress, wheezing is still present and his wheezing is expiratory throughout his lungs, he’s having difficulty breathing, his respiratory rate is 35 indicating he’s breathing faster to compensate for the loss of oxygen to the lungs. His blood pressure is high at 145/94, and his oxygen saturation is at 89%. This asthma attack may develop into status asthmaticus because he’s still in respiratory distress and his self-treatment. Also, because Mr. TG is a smoker, which causes the lungs to be filled up with more mucus, this might be a reason his asthma attack could be prolonged because of the excess amount of mucus that’s blockin...
Asthma is one of the major growing problem affecting all ages of the population worldwide. In fact, a chronic respiratory conditions which modify the respiratory function of the body. That is, asthma patients are usually leads to frequent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and cough, particularly at night or in the early morning (Diane.B & Helen.E& Lesley.S & Thomas.B.2014).