Asthma In Children: A Case Study

At Camp Wapiti, I was fortunate enough to be a co-counselor in the cabin that had the highest amount of prophylactic asthma medications. I had the opportunity to see most of my campers involved with taking several prevention medications. Most common was the Advair Diskus, typically dosed at 1 puff BID. The long acting B2 agonist and corticosteroid seemed to control the children quite well throughout the week’s activities. One child used Flovent 110 at 2 puffs QD (which I found odd considering Flovent is typically dosed at BID due to the half-life being 7.8 hours). Many children were also on Singular 4 or 5mg QHS – the most common leukotriene receptor antagonist on the market. These prevention medications were used exclusively by the children in need of a controlled medication due to their specific triggers, i.e. exercise etc. Several of the children were on medications typically for allergy prevention and were now being used for off-label indications to prevent an allergy induced asthma attack. These include Flonase (inhaled nasal corticosteroid) at 2 puffs in each nare BID, and a variety of oral anti-histamines – cetirizine/loratadine for AM doses and diphenhydramine for PM doses. One child had PRN use of a prednisone titrating dose, but was controlled enough throughout the week that he never needed to use it.

Asthma does not cause any learning difficulties in children, although children can lose confidence in their own abilities as a result of being made to feel ‘different’ it is essential that inhalers for children are accessible and given promptly. Children are often encouraged to ‘take control’ from an early age, feeling in control can lessen the chances of a child having a strong attack, as when they panic there airways are more likely to become tense.

Since asthma exacerbations in adolescence can lead to emergency room visits, hospitalizations, missed school and diminished health status, there was an evident need for effective asthma management for this population (Quaranta et al., 2014). Unfortunately, these rural adolescents with asthma, and their families, had difficulty determining when their asthma was poorly controlled; and unless the asthma symptoms were disruptive to family life, there was often little motivation for these individuals to seek medical care, thus increasing the risk of poor outcomes (Quaranta et al., 2014, p. 99). According

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One strategy that has shown to improve medication compliance and outcomes for patient with asthma is the provision of Asthma Action Plans (AAP). The Asthma Action Plan or AAP is widely recognized as the best tool for asthma self-management and has been demonstrated to improve outcomes for asthmatics. The AAP is a detailed plan that describes medications and treatments, how to control asthma, and how to address worsening asthma. The plan also describes when to call the doctor or go to the emergency room. The plan breaks down the severity of symptoms and treatment by color helping those with limited language skills and low health literacy the ability to understand the asthma treatment plan. (Nepaul et al.,

Asthma is a respiratory disease that many people deal with every single day. “According to World Health Organization, approximately 180,000 people die from asthma each year.” (Jardins and Burton 187) Most people never think of asthma as a life threatening disease, but it can be crucial. As the number of people with asthma increases, the more likely you are to come in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with this disease. Asthma is a severe breathing problem that has many complications that is dealt with daily like shortness of breath, chronic cough, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath, my main focus is childhood asthma, allergic asthma, and medication to treat asthma.

Asthma affects 1 in every 12 Americans. According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, Asthma is affects “About 1 in 9 (11%) non-Hispanic blacks of all ages and about 1 in 6 (17%) of non-Hispanic black children had asthma in 2009, the highest rate among racial/ethnic groups.” As a mother of child with asthma, I know how scary it can be to deal with asthma attacks and learning how to treat the symptoms and minimize risk factors.

Avoiding and controlling asthma triggers is important in every phase of the intervention process in order to manage the disease. However, many times because of lack of awareness and education, asthma

Discuss the prevalence of asthma in certain patient populations that you might see in primary care. Asthma is chronic airway inflammation disorder that is characterized by persistent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and non-productive cough, mainly at night and in the early morning. The inflammation of the airway results from physical, chemical, and pharmacologic stimulus, which causes bronchial hyper-responsiveness, constriction of the airways, edema of airway wall, and chronic airway remodeling (Cash, 2014). Asthma occurs at all ages, with about 50% of all cases developing during childhood and another 30% before age 40. In the United States, it is estimated that 25 million people have asthma and the prevalence continues to increase (McCance, & Huether, 2014). Previously, asthma was considered

Asthma triggers and response to medications does not affect individuals in the same ways. Moreover it is not always simple to manage due to its affectability on people on age, sex and ethnic background (Cockett,2003). However, specialist nurse can achieve a successful outcome by ensuring that management plans are tailored to suit each patients/clients needs.

A screening template can be developed that can assist the nurse in performing a thorough assessment of an asthmatic patient. This questionnaire should be at an appropriate education level and question should be simple and direct. The questions should focus on the presence or absence of symptoms, activity limitations, exacerbations, missed workdays, and frequency of use of prescribed medications.

The overall project goal was to lessen the asthma burden and improve health outcomes for asthmatic children and their families. Home health workers conducted household safety assessments, provided asthma prevention education and targeted environmental interventions to reduce indoor triggers and allergens. The study showed a significant improvement in the health during the 11-12 month follow up period, which essentially led to an increase in annual savings due to a decrease in emergency medical expenses. Despite findings in their favor, the follow-up period was too short. In order to build a stronger case, the follow up period should be on-going to measure long-term success.

3. What components of the patient’s asthma management plan should be monitored during a home visit?

Childhood asthma impacts scores of youngsters and their families. In fact, the bulk of kids develop respiratory illness before the age of

Experts have yet to understand why the rates of asthma are rising by an average of 50% every decade worldwide. According to the Asthma Society of Canada (2016), asthma is now considered to be a major health concern with approximately 235 million suffering from this illness worldwide. Kuhn et al (2015) states that as at 2012, one out of 12 people in the United States had asthma and the number continues to rise. More people have been diagnosed with this disease and in 2007; over 3000 deaths were linked to Asthma. Furthermore, the costs of treating asthma continue to rise with about 56 billion dollars being spent in 2007 compared to $53 billion in 2002 (CDC, 2011). From data gathered in California, which is our area of study, it was estimated that 2.3 million