the following topics: asthma and COPD.
the following topics: asthma and COPD.
pulmonary disease. He has asked that your team prepare a presentation for the nurses on the following topics: asthma and COPD.
Discuss at least two patient-care technologies that would assist in the care of patients suffering from asthma and COPD. Please include in-text citations to support your response.
Peer Response 1:
Alyson Ferguson posted
Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are two of the most common obstructive pulmonary diseases. Asthma is a familial disorder causing chronic inflammation of the bronchial mucosa which leads to bronchial hyperresponsiveness, airway constriction, and airway obstruction which is reversible. COPD is a common, progressive, preventable yet not fully reversible, airflow limitation (McCance 2019).
There are many technologies patients can utilize to help monitor and manage their airway and breathing utilizing certain technologies. There is a mobile application that came out in 2009 called the Personal Wheezometor. This application measures the sound waves of a patients’ breath, it then can alert the patient if an asthma attack is likely to happen or is happening. The app is designed to limit the use of the rescue inhaler if not needed, and to prevent overuse (Meyers 2011).
Another innovation for asthma management for home use is the “Smart inhaler.” The Smart Inhaler uses Bluetooth technology to monitor and detect use of the inhaler linked to the device. The inhaler can alert the patient on overuse of the device also, suggesting possible symptoms worsening, or a decreased in asthma control. That monitoring device can be a great tool for the patient’s primary doctor to see how many asthma attacks the patient is having, and how often, to then determine if any medications need to be altered (Mohammadi, 2017).
McCance, K. L., & Huether, S. E. (2019). Pathophysiology: the biologic basis for disease in adults and children (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Mohammadi, D. (2017). Smart Inhalers: will they help improve asthma care? The Pharmacuetical Journal.
Rosenberg, S. R., & Kalhan, R. (2017). Recent advances in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. F1000Research, 6, 863.
Peer Response 2: Carrie Eyman posted
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), is considered a progressive lung disease that entails an obstructed airflow from the lungs. There is no cure for this, the management of symptoms, and reducing risk factors, such as smoking, indoor air pollutions, that exacerbate this disease is of the upmost importance. “The World Health Organization estimates that COPD will be the third leading cause of death in the world by 2030” (Dixon, Ward, Smith, Holmes, & Mhadeva, 2016, p.330). Since there is no cure, managing the symptoms and the disease progression is vital. There are many technologies today that can assist with this.
There are now wearable technologies such as wrist-based pulse oximeter. These can be worn across the chest or on the wrist. They can monitor, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, wheezing, and temperature. This device can be useful in monitoring for long term and rehabilitation patients. Another technology that has helped the diagnosis of COPD, is the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic monitoring. This uses sputum to diagnosis COPD from other respiratory diseases, in a shorter amount of time, and could predict an exacerbation. There now are spirometer devices that can be used on your smartphone, downloaded on an app. This is best for home monitoring and could quickly detect an exacerbation or change in condition (Dixon, et al., 2016).
Asthma is also another chronic inflammatory disease that causes constriction of the airways, airflow obstruction, sensitivity to the bronchial mucosa. These conditions can be resolved these conditions by steroids, and inhalers containing corticosteroids. Some of the symptoms that can be produced is tachypnea, expiratory wheezing, dyspnea, dry nonproductive cough and chest constriction (McCance & Heuther, 2019). Asthma sufferers go through exacerbations and remissions.
New technologies can significantly reduce the symptoms of asthma and the allergies that aggravate this. One is bronchial thermoplasty. This uses radio waves to burn off overgrown muscle in the airways and lungs. The thin wires are lowered into the patient’s lungs and emit radio waves that reduce the muscle, so that air can flow more easily (Himes & Weitzman, 2016). GPS tracking devices are now installed on inhalers. The information on the use of the inhaler is sent to the patient’s doctor. This allows for their physician to see the trend in when they are having an exacerbation, and to reduce the number of future ones. The information is sent via Bluetooth. Since there is no cure for either of these pulmonary diseases, technology has empowered patients to take a hold of their disease for the optimum management and quality of life.
References
Dixon, L., et al. (2016). New and emerging technologies for the diagnosis and monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Chron Respir Dis, (4)13, 321-336. Doi: 10.1177/1479972316636994.
Himes, B., & Weitzman, E. (2016). Innovations technologies for chronic pulmonary diseases. Respiratory Research, 17, 1-7. Doi.org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1186/s12931-016-0354-3
McCance, K., & Huether, S. (2019). Pathophysiology: The biologic bases for disease in
adults and children (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
