Pediatric Asthma

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway that impacts a person’s and their family’s quality of life. In people with asthma, their airway becomes constricted with swelling and excessive mucous. This constriction or narrowing of the airway makes it difficult for the person with asthma to breath (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009). If asthma is left uncontrolled, it leads to further wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, tiredness, and stress. (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009).

While unfortunately asthma is not a curable disease, for most asthmatics its can be well controlled meaning there will less symptoms or flare-ups and limits to your life. With correct medication, knowledge about the disease and skills, asthma shouldn’t stop you. There are many treatment options available when it comes to asthma. Asthma treatments vary from your basic asthma inhalers to steroids and other anti-inflammatory medicines and asthma nebulizer (Breathing Machine). (Anon., n.d.) The role that medical practitioners play with asthma is a very precise job. This role includes assessment, diagnosis, prescription of regular medications, provision of written action plans, and regular review as well as managing asthma flare-ups. Asthma-related visits to a general practitioner may occur for a variety of reasons, including: the acute or reactive management of asthma symptoms, a visit for maintenance activities, such as monitoring and prescription of regular medications and referral to other health professionals. (Anon.,

To better understand the impact of asthma, a brief overview of the causes (aetiology) and disease progression (pathophysiology) must be shown. As common as asthma is, not much is known about its aetiology, according to findings presented by Subbaroa, Mandhane and Sears (2009, pg. 181-187) in a review from the Canadian

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.

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

The effect of asthma can range from mild, irregular symptoms causing minor problems for an individual to severe and sudden asthma attacks. The extent of what causes asthma is not well known or fully understood but some common triggers include, cold temperatures, dust mites, cockroaches, pollen, sickness, mould and animal hair. When triggered, the airways in the lungs become inflamed and constricted causing shortness of breath, chest pain and wheezing [R]. Currently, there is no cure for asthma however symptoms can be managed with medication and improved living standards [R]. Asthma symptoms are commonly controlled with the use of inhalers, either preventers (taken to desensitizes airways to triggers) or relievers (provides instant relief by relaxing the muscles) [16].

Frequent coughing especially at night airways tend to narrow, which causes increased airflow resistance. Losing your breath easily or shortness of breath is caused by “grit” which accumulates in the air passageway because of an overload due to imcomplete filtering. Wheezing during physical activities. Wheezing is caused by increased responsiveness of the trachebronchial tree to various stimuli.

About 10% of American children have asthma (Thakur et al., 2013). It is vital to understand what determinants cause childhood asthma to understand even with a low percentage, why it is still present. According to Williams et al., asthma is a health outcome which is a major impact on American youth (Williams et al., 2009). This health outcome not only impacts them throughout the years of being a child, but it has the potential of creating more serious health problems in the future. And without knowing what the causes are, it increases the rate asthma among children and prevents treatments from being implemented. It needs to be addressed by using results from prior studies in order to show how much of a problem childhood asthma is but also in finding and understanding the other underlying

The sign and symptoms of an asthma attack include coughing that worsens at night or early in the morning, shortness of breath, chest tightness or wheezing sounds that occurs when breathing. Some symptoms go away without no treatment. However, severe asthma attacks require immediate emergency care. There is no cure for asthma because the disease will always be present. Even if an individual feels well, there’s always the possibility of something triggering an Asthma attack.

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

This paper will discuss and explore five-year-old Jessica White, who presented to the emergency department suffering from asthma (School of Nursing & Midwifery 2014). Firstly, this paper will scope the normal pathophysiology of the respiratory system and then discuss the abnormalities in relation to Jessica’s respiratory system and the reasoning behind her asthma due to being exposed to a certain trigger. In addition, it will discuss the pharmacology in relation to two medications in which Jessica has been prescribed, and how these medications will provide relief for Jessica and improve her asthma. Lastly, this paper will explore the signs and symptoms of asthma that Jessica presented with at the hospital and how they are associated with asthma.

Asthma is an inflammatory condition of the airways causing attacks of wheezing and breathlessness. It affects a person’s

Allergy induced asthma can be caused by allergies that range from pollen and pet dander to roaches

The pathophysiology of Asthma includes inflammation of the airway. The way in which this works is from an irritant which can include dust, pollen, cedar, or cat hair. When a reaction occurs, the airways become inflamed and narrow. The narrowing occurs because once the inflammatory response is triggered by an irritant, histamines, immunoglobulin E antibodies, and leukotrienes are released. Because of this, mucous production occurs. Since the bronchioles are inflamed and narrow, breathing becomes difficult. Wheezing sounds can be heard due to the lack of air being able to easily move in and out of the narrowed bronchioles.

When one is diagnosed with asthma there are several places where one can look for information other than their doctor. There are chat rooms and message boards on the internet or support groups in the patients’ local area. For children it is important to focus on things they can do and not on what they cannot do. Make sure teachers are aware of the diagnosis so they too can be on the lookout for symptoms. Making sure friends and family are aware as well. While there is no prevention for developing asthma there are however ways one can prevent attacks. Follow your asthma action plan. Identify and avoid asthma triggers such as allergens and irritants. Monitor ones breathing, this way you may be able to learn what the warning signs are to an attack. Make sure to take ones