NURS308 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Atrial Fibrillation, Interatrial Septum, Pulmonary Hypertension
12 Jul 2018
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Document Summary
Asthma is a disorder of the bronchial airways characterized by periods of reversible bronchospasm. Environmental factors interact with inherited factors to produce disease. Other inciting factors can include: excitatory states (stress, laughing, crying, exercise, changes in temp, strong odors. Asthma involves a chronic inflammatory process that produces mucosal edema, mucus secretion, and airway inflammation. When exposed to allergens or irritants, airways become inflamed, producing shortness of breath, chest tightness, and wheezing. Initial clinical manifestations develop immediately and last about an hour. About half of asthma clients also experience a delayed reaction that begins 4 to 8 hours after exposure and may last for hours or days. Clinical manifestations of asthma: dyspnea and marked respiratory effort (nasal flaring, pursed-lip breathing, and use of accessory muscles, cyanosis is a late development, wheezing, especially during expiration. The inability to auscultate wheezing in an asthmatic client with acute respiratory distress may indicate that the small airways are too constricted to allow any air flow.
