Pediatric Asthma
Asthma is a debilitating condition caused by unspecified reasons. As such prevention, control and diagnosis becomes difficult. In addition, symptoms may vary largely. Cultural and ethnic beliefs and remedies add to the complexity, making the attending nurses' jobs that much more difficult. Deciding on the measures and framework needed to provide long-term care is deemed important in this context. This work attempts to consider the pathophysiology and epidemiology of asthma and other variables to provide an effective protocol to attend to Asthmatic patients.
Pediatric Asthma
Asthma, a condition that usually occurs in both adults and children is a chronic inflammatory disorder that affects the airways and is usually characterized by breathlessness or difficulty in breathing. Among adolescents, between the ages of 5-17, asthma is responsible for the loss of over 10 million school days per year and consumes about $726.1 million of caretaker's money every year due to absence from work (Jackson, Lemanske & Guilbert, 2014). All over the world, the most prevalent severe lower respiratory ailment in children is asthma. Most often, asthma begins early in life and has different courses and very unstable phenotypes which may remit or progress over time. In preschool children, wheeze may result from different conditions; irrespective of treatments, more than half of preschool wheezers get symptomatic by the time they get to school age. However, these asthma symptoms may last long, sometimes for as long as the patient lives, mostly in atopic cases and other more severe cases. The effects of asthma on the patients' quality of life, as well as the cost of treatments are quite high. Thus, adequate management may have some major effect on the patient's quality of life and their immediate families, as well as on the outcome of public health.
Purpose Statement
Asthma is a respiratory disorder caused by yet unspecified reasons, making it difficult to treat, and at times even difficult to diagnose. The only way to counter an asthma attack is to control it effectively when it occurs and then follow it up rigorously through sustained monitoring. In absence of clear clinical direction, cultural and ethnic considerations in treatment of asthma cannot be ignored.
The aim then, is to formulate a clear line of action and format to diagnose, treat, and monitor Asthmatic patients. Such a framework should help prevent, alleviate, and control pain and discomfiture, and...
The nursing fraternity would need to be culturally sensitive, as ethnic measures seem to provide solace to patients inclined to have such a belief system.
Diagnosis
History of repeated wheezing episodes is accepted worldwide as the beginning of the diagnosis in children. The required rate/number of these episodes is not generally specified, though a random number of 2 or 3 has been suggested. Establishing the diagnosis requires some specific symptoms. These include symptoms like repeated wheezing, cough, breathing difficulty, tightness in the chest region, caused by excessive exposure to several stimuli like irritants (tobacco smoke, cold, etc.), allergens (pollens, pets, etc.), exercise, respiratory infection, laughter, or crying, which mostly appear either early in the morning or during the night (Lugogo, Que, Gilstrap & Kraft, 2015). A personal history of atopy-related cases (e.g. allergic rhinitis, eczema or food/aeroallergen sensitization) and a patient's family history of asthma makes the diagnosis more effective. Considering the fact that these symptoms of asthma are in no way pathognomonic and may happen due to a number of different conditions, varied diagnosis is very vital and involves common problems experienced during childhood and a long list of severe but infrequent diseases, which appear in all guidelines with minor differences.
Management and follow-up
Though different guidelines present and structure components and principles of asthma management in very different ways, the main messages are always consistent, which includes several components that cause its variable and chronic course. Patients, their parents, and caregivers should be given adequate education to enable them manage the condition optimally, in association with healthcare professionals. Both, formation of partnership and education between them are vital for implementing the treatment plan successfully (Lugogo et al., 2015). Identifying and avoiding specific (i.e. allergens) and the non-specific triggers such as tobacco but not necessarily exercise and the risk factors are equally very important, because they may drive or encourage inflammation. Monitoring and assessment should be regularly performed due to the variable course asthma takes and most importantly to fine-tune and reevaluate treatment. The cornerstone of treatment is pharmacotherapy. The highest use of medication in most cases help the patients regulate the symptoms and minimize risks of future…
