preview

Asthma Case Study Essay

Good Essays

This paper will review a case study of a 30-year-old patient who has been diagnosed with asthma and allergies. The patient was put on the medications; albuterol, (Proventil), salmeterol (Sere vent), and montelukast (Singular). The patient’s provider told the patient to come back in two weeks for follow- up. If at that time she is still wheezing, he would put her on an oral corticosteroid (Kelleher, Sheryl MS, CFNP, Class Assignment). This paper will define what asthma and its pathophysiology is, as well as review the patients prescribed medications of albuterol, salmeterol, and montelukast. Lastly, a review of corticosteroids and their adverse effects, dosing, and other implications will be discussed.
Asthma can be defined as a chronic pulmonary disease that involves inflammation and bronchospasms. To fully understand asthma and its attributes, one must understand the pathophysiology of asthma, including the lower respiratory tract, and the bronchiolar smooth muscle.
Stated simply, the major role of the respiratory system is to bring oxygen into the human body, and remove carbon dioxide (Adams, Holland, Urban,). This is nonetheless respiration, or the exchange of gases. Another phenomenon occurring in our respiratory system is ventilation. This is when the air moves in and out of the lungs.
Bronchiolar smooth muscle is located in the Bronchiole and plays a very important role in the physiology as well. They either contract or relax. Relaxation of the bronchiole smooth

Get Access