Case Study: Asthma Points: 38 Due: Saturday, June 23, 2018 by 11:59 pm A 6 year

Question

Case Study: Asthma Points: 38 Due: Saturday, June 23, 2018 by 11:59 pm A 6 year old male has coughing with audible expiratory wheezes and dyspnea. The child is pale, skin is moist and cool and he has difficulty speaking more than a few words before stopping to catch his breath. His parents state the difficult breathing had a rapid onset approximately 1 hour earlier when he was playing with the neighbor’s dog. The child has a history of previous asthma attacks, primarily after visiting his aunt’s home where there are cats. Assessment of the child shows T 98.6, P 120, R 40 and labored. Bilateral rales are heard on auscultation, louder on expiration but also present on inspiration. Discuss what brought about this current episode (2 points) Was there a history of previous attacks and what were they related to? (2 points) What physiologic changes occur during an acute asthmatic episode (refer to your text) (8 points) How would this particular boy subjectively describe dyspnea (2 points) List the assessment findings and clearly indicate if they normal/abnormal and list a reason the value would be abnormal (10 points) What test can be performed to reveal the degree of airway obstruction? (2 points) What test could be considered to help gain information on possible triggers? (2 points) Briefly describe how bronchodilators and corticosteroids help in the treatment of asthma (4 points) When considering patient education make a list of items that you could tell or show the parents/boy (6 points)

Explanation / Answer

1) Asthma is a condition in which the airways are inflammed, narrowed and produces excess mucus. One of the major cause of asthma is exposure to allergans. In the above case scenario, the six year old male child experiences the asthmatic attack as a result of the exposure to allergans i.e playing with dogs. The dust and the hairs of the animals often serves as a allergan which may trigger the body's inflammotory process.

2) Yes, the child has suffered the attacks of asthma previously during his aunt's house visit where there are cats. Thus in both cases current and previous, the cause is the same i.e exposure to allergans like animals.

3) There are various physiological changes that occur during the asthamatic episode like wheezing, shortness of breath,chest tightness and coughing.Sputum may be produced but often hard to spit out.The symptoms become severe during night than compared to day time and to exposure to extremes of climate or other allergans.These symptoms occurs as the exposure to allergans triggers the inflammatory response of the body. This chronic inflammations leads to thickening of the smooth muscle walls and thereby narrowing of the airways resulting in obstructed air passage.

4) The child will describe dyspnea by the face expression of laboured breathing, gesture indicating that he is not receiving enough oxygen to breathe. He will appear to be anxious and restlessness, will refuse to lie down flat and would sit continuously. His conversation will also be broken words with inability to complete the sentences.

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