Body Systems, Health and Long Term Conditions



Body Systems, Health and Long Term Conditions

Introduction

This paper intends to expound the long term medical condition of asthma which comes under the theme of Respiratory condition.The paper will identify the patient having the long term medical concerns of asthma and support that person through the nursing care intervention plan. The role of multidisciplinary team will also be highlighted in addressing the health care problems. This is because the nursing staff and the multidisciplinary team hold the strong position in transforming the lives of such patients through their endless support to the patients as well as their families. The nursing intervention plans are based on promoting the self care strategies for the patients which they can easily apply without being dependent on the external care by the family or health care providers. Moreover, the study will also demonstrate the in depth understanding of the pathophysiology of the long term conditions and the clinical manifestation pertinent to the lifelong health care problem. The paper has identified the patient, Edward Smith, who has been suffering from the Asthma since his childhood. The severe asthma attacks cause him to become dependent on the family for even doing the small tasks. He feels difficulty in respiration and his heart beat elevates even if he walks to washroom. The nursing team put their entire focus on treating this patient and making the efforts to bring his life to the normal pace.

Discussion

Asthma is one of the common long term medical condition which causes to impact the entire life of the patient. The asthma usually starts in the childhood as it is based on numerous allergies especially with the pollens, dust, and pet animals. These allergies cause to trigger the asthma attacks. The common symptom of asthma is wheezy breathlessness which occurs frequently in the early morning or at night. The patients having asthma happen to face the chronic inflammation in the bronchi or air passages. This causes to swell up the breathing walls and the air passage way becomes narrower due to the contraction of muscles around those air passages (Ministry of Health Services, 2010). Moreover, this inflammation also induces mucus glands to produce excessive amount of sputum that also contributes in further obstruction of the air passages which were already contracted due to the inflammation. In some cases, when the patient encounters with the acute attacks every now and then, it can lead towards the permanent contraction of the air passages which cannot be relieved by any asthma medications. This condition is termed as airway remodeling (British Thoracic Society, 2013). The triggers that provoke airway obstruction contain the respiratory allergens, cold weather, excessive exercise, cigarette smoking, and respiratory infections. Hence, all these triggers contribute in inflammation of pulmonary airways and hyper responsiveness of bronchi which consequently results in clinical expression of contraction of breathing passage (Yawn, 2008).

Section 1

The nurses and the multidisciplinary team play a crucial role in treating the patients with the chronic conditions such as ...