My Paper On Pleural Effusions

The bronchial tubes increase in length and diameter during inhalation. Bronchial tubes decrease in length and diameter during exhalation. Poiseuille’s law can be applied to the lungs when the bronchial tubes become constricted due to an increase in mucus production and can decrease in size. When the bronchial tubes decrease in size and the patient is breathing, it is going to take more pressure to move the air into the swelled bronchi. If the radius of a patient’s bronchial tubes increased by sixteen percent, the pressure to move oxygen into the lungs would double. Therefore, a patient with bronchial smooth muscle constriction of sixteen percent would have to double their driving pressure to keep a constant flow rate. If swelling occurs and the patient does not increase their pressure, the amount of oxygen they are getting to their lungs will decrease. Respiratory therapists can see this taking place in patients with asthma that have excess mucus secretions.

The nursing role in pulmonary rehabilitation includes one on one sessions with patients to cover more in-depth education of the disease process including actual anatomy and physiology of the pulmonary system. After that has been covered then the nurses can focus on causes of COPD, symptoms of the disease and management of them, diet, pulmonary exercise, medications for COPD and compliance issues, and most importantly smoking cessation. The nurses will likely require the patient to give return demonstrations of the medication use and pulmonary exercises such as pursed lip breathing (Mohammadi, Jowkar, Khankeh & Tafti, 2013).

The presence of fluid in the alveolar space could potentially cause the lung capacity to be effected as well.

COPD is one of the many preventable diseases that health care providers deal with. Nurses needs to familiarize themselves with this disease process and how it affects the body, preventative methods, and treatment plans, so that they can be well informed when it comes to patient education. Education is a big part of nursing and considering COPD is the third leading cause of death, nurses will be in frequent contact with

Hemothorax is a type of pleural effusion in which blood accumulates in the pleural space. The excess fluid can interfere with normal breathing by limiting expansion of the lungs.

Air escaped from the lung into the pleural space. Eventually, enough air collected in the pleural space to cause the mediastinum to shift twoard the right. The collapsed left lung, increased intrapleural pressure, and rightward shift make it difficult to ventilate A.W.

Pleural effusion is the accumulation of fluid in the pleural space. This may lead to the accumulation of fibrous tissue and the fluid will move towards the dependant area and collapse the adjacent lung.

The human body needs fluid in order to live, but sometimes the body can become overloaded with fluid in different areas of the body. In such circumstances, the excess fluid has to be removed. When the space between the chest wall and the lungs, called the pleural space, fills with too much fluid, a thoracentesis is necessary. A thoracentesis is a procedure that is used to relieve the pleural effusion, or

For this paper, I decided to write about bronchiectasis. Bronchiectasis is a respiratory disease that takes on the appearance of cystic fibrosis. It is caused by the buildup of mucous causing the airways to stretch and widen and are irreversible. (American Lung Association, 2015) I chose to write about bronchiectasis because one of my dear friends has recently been diagnosed with this respiratory disease. Jasmine Coleman was born with a rare blood disorder and as a child she was always in and out of the hospital because she was more susceptible to infections, pneumonia was the main problem. Her condition was so severe that she wasn’t expected to have lived through high school, but she is still with us today. Over time her airways have built up with mucous and she began to cough up large amounts of blood. She had undergone various testing and treatments to try to figure out what was wrong. It was only recently when she was finally diagnosed with bronchiectasis. She has only 22 percent lung function and that is mainly in her left lung for her right lung is filled with blood. She is currently on six liters of oxygen when she is out and about and two liters for when she is resting. (Times Bulletin, 2015) She may be

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung which results into an excess of fluid or pus accumulating into the alveoli of the lung. Pneumonia impairs gas exchange which leads to hypoxemia and is acquire by inhaling a contagious organism or an irritating agent. (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013). Fungal, bacteria and viruses are the most common organisms that can be inhale. Pneumonia could be community-acquired or health care associated. Community –acquired pneumonia (CAP) occurs out of a healthcare facility while health care associated pneumonia (HAP) is acquired in a healthcare facility. HAP are more resistant to antibiotic and patients on ventilators and those receiving kidney dialysis have a higher risk factor. Infants, children and the elderly also have a higher risk of acquiring pneumonia due to their immune system inability to fight the virus. Pneumonia can also be classified as aspiration pneumonia if it arises by inhaling saliva, vomit, food or drink into the lungs. Patients with abnormal gag reflex, dysphagia, brain injury, and are abusing drug or alcohol have a higher risk of aspiration pneumonia (Mayo Clinic, 2013). In the case of patient E.O., this patient had rhonchi in the lower lobe and the upper lobe sound was coarse and diminished. Signs and symptoms of pneumonia include difficulty breathing, chest pain, wheezing, fever, headache, chills, cough, confusion, pain in muscle or

Emphysema affects the parenchyma of the lung through destruction of the alveolar walls, leading to permanent enlargement of air spaces distal to the

Part I: In two separate paragraphs, please describe what a flail chest and a tension pneumothorax are and how each affects a person’s ability to breathe. In other words, what happens inside the body that is detrimental and why is it detrimental.

Pneumothorax can have a wide continuum of severity, ranging from simple asymptomatic pneumothorax caused by disruption

“Teaching patients about promoting, maintaining, and restoring their health is a required nursing skill that most often results in a positive outcome, enhancing the patient 's quality of life” (Lewis et al., 2014, p.52). The intent of this analysis is to educate patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on means that can enhance their quality of life and avert the progression of their disease. More specifically, it will focus on the aspect of teaching Mrs. N, a patient, how to effectively handle certain symptoms experienced with techniques like pursed-lip breathing and also, to upsurge the client’s awareness on preventative measures to abate the possibility of acute exacerbations. Mrs. N is a 100-years-old woman of Canadian and Arabic background. In mid-September, she was rushed to the hospital after experiencing worsening dyspnea and a fever. The doctors deduced a diagnosis of pneumonia and therefore, she was transferred to the medical unit at the Lakeshore hospital in order to be treated with intravenous antibiotics. Mrs. N has a past medical history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, anemia, deep vein thrombosis and mixed dementia. Mrs. N is a retired widow with two daughters, who come and visit her on a daily basis at the hospital and encourage her to mobilize and eat because she has an extremely poor appetite on most days. She’s well cared for by a team of care workers in the nursing home where she lives and her daughters and

Pleural effusion is known as a build-up of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and chest cavity.