One of the major public health problems facing Australia today is Asthma. It is disturbing that there has been an apparent increase in its prevalence and severity, and increased rates of hospital admissions. (E.J.Comino, 1996) For the diagnosed patient, the degree to which he or she suffers is related to severity of the condition, compliance with recommendations by medical experts, the immediate environment and the effectiveness of education programs.
Like other major health problems, asthma has varying degrees of symptoms. As such, the degree and frequency of the symptoms limits many aspects of the asthmatics life. To describe the main limitations suffered by those with chronic asthma, asthma must be defined.
Asthma is a condition whereby the sufferer has difficulty breathing due to widespread narrowing of the airways of the lungs. This narrowing can be caused by a local inflammation of the air-ways, muscle contraction or the production of excess mucus with in bronchi. (R.Roberts, 1996) Most common is bronchial asthma. Medical definitions of asthma suggest that environmental triggers can substantially contribute to the occurrence of an asthma attack. The review of asthma in Victoria (1988) by the Asthma Foundation of Victoria outlined infection, exercise, climatic conditions, exposure to airborne irritants and emotional upsets as the main trigger factors. However, doctors use a general classification to identify a patients pattern of asthma…classifying people who experience some symptoms of asthma on most days as having a chronic asthma condition. The classification system also extends to the categories of children, occupational asthma and asthma in later life. Usually regular medication is required to keep the lungs functioning as normally as possible. Some chronic asthmatics have severe symptoms over a long period of time and may require long term or indefinite medication to be able to lead a normal life. (Lane, 1996)
The most obvious limitations suffered relate to the asthmatics physiological dysfunction. However, physiological dysfunction can in turn contribute to greater social and psychological limitations. This area is related more specifically to quality of life and morbidity and will be discussed further on. The main physiological limitation is related to the presence of the bronchial narrowing slowing the movement...
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...ciated with the effectiveness of asthma education programs. And hence secure the continuation and development of asthma education in the community.
References:
1 Asthma Foundation of Victoria, Review of Asthma in Victoria, 1988.
2 Beilby JJ,Wakefield MA, Ruffin RE, Reported use of Asthma Management plans in Australia, Medical Journal of Australia, 1997; 166: 298 – 301.
3 Comino E J, Asthma Management in eastern Australia, 1990 and 1993, Med J Aust, 1996; 164:403-406
4 Elizabeth J Comino, Medical Journal of Australia: Asthma Management in eastern Australia, 1990 and 1993. MJA, 1 April 1996.
5 Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention NHLBI/WHO Workshop, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute January 1995; Publication Number 95-3659
6 Lane Donald J, Asthma the Facts, Oxford university Press, 1996.
7 National Asthma Campaign. Asthma deaths fall but death rate remains unacceptably high. Melbourne: National Asthma Campaign, 31 December, 1998. Media release.
8 National Asthma Campaign. Implementation Plan, 1999 http://www.nationalasthma.org.au/nacsi/index.html
9 Woolcock AJ, Rubinfield AR, Seale JP, et al. Asthma Management Plan 1989. Med J Aust 1989; 151:650-653.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways. It is a reversible airway obstruction, occurring 8 to 10% of the population worldwide. According to a study in 2005, asthma affects over 15 million Americans, with more than 2 million annual emergency room visits. Asthma patients have a hyper-responsiveness in their airways and generally and increase in their airway smooth muscle cell mass. This hyperplasia is due to the normal response to the injury and repair to the airway caused by exacerbations. The main choice of therapy for asthma patients is β2- adrenergic agonists. Racemic albuterol has been the drug of choice for a short acting bronchodilator for a long time, but since the development of levalbuterol, there is the question of which drug is a better choice for therapy. Efficacy and cost of treatment must both be taken into consideration in each study of these therapies to determine which is best for the treatment of asthma.
Secondly, severe asthma can be life-threatening. Suffering from asthma can be frightening to experience and people often feel scared and anxious. The fear and scare can also lead to breathlessness and so mak...
The three measurable outcome of asthma management includes improved quality of life, decreased use of resources, and increased patient and family satisfaction. Regardless of the practice settings case managers help to increase access to health care service, reduces health care cost, improved outcomes of the care delivered and over all improve the quality of care (Powell). The categories of outcome indicators are
Whilst looking at the impact that breathlessness can have on patient the author will look at the physical, psychological and social health implications and how this can affect the overall (holistic) quality of life for these patients. Often these three areas overlap and the physical implications of breathlessness can have a direct effect on the patient’s social health, financial ability to provide for themselves and others, which in turn affects the person physiological well-being or vice versa.
...n improve adherence to medication” (Toole, 2013). School-based interventions through an asthma program clearly show to be the most practical, cost-effective way to reach out to children with asthma and manage their condition.
Each child will probably have many different kind of health issue during his or her infancy or childhood. In addition, for some children these illnesses are mild, they come and go, and they do not have negative influence on their everyday life and development. On the other hand, for some children, there are some chronic illnesses that have a huge effect on their daily life during childhood. Indeed, a chronic health condition is a health issue that last more than 3 months, and it has a big effect on on a child’s daily life, activity, and development. As a result, it demands more hospitalizations, extensive medical care, emergency care, and/or home health care. According to Weiner, “Each year in the US, 6 million children ranging
Pedersen, Soren, and Stanley J. Szefler, eds. Childhood Asthma. Vol. 209. New York: Taylor and Francis, 2006. Print.
Asthmatic burden can be defined in various ways. In this paper, prevalence of asthma, mortality due to asthma, and rates of health care use from asthma are used as primary dimensions of the asthmatic burden.
Asthma is a disorder of the respiratory system in which the passages that enable air to pass into and out of the lungs periodically narrow, causing coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. This narrowing is typically temporary and reversible, but in severe attacks, asthma may result in death. Asthma most commonly refers to bronchial asthma, an inflammation of the airways, but the term is also used to refer to cardiac asthma, which develops when fluid builds up in the lungs as a complication of heart failure. This article focuses on bronchial asthma.
Your level of asthma control can vary over time and with changes in your home, school, or work environments. These changes can alter how often you're exposed to the factors that can worsen your asthma.
Chronic illness or chronic condition is a long lasting or persistent disease or condition in a person’s health. A chronic illness can affect anyone’s life at any time. A person’s life can be affected greatly in many ways by a chronic illness. A person may be affected physically, their independence may be taken away, they may feel tired and/or in pain due to a chronic illness they may be suffering from. Financial problems may occur due to the high medical costs treating the chronic illness, someone could lose their, job, their appearance may be affected, and a person may experience confusion. If a chronic illness unexpectedly approaches someone’s life, a person may feel overwhelmingly confused. This confusion may come, because they don’t understand why they now have this illness. This confusion is primarily seen in children. Since chronic illness affects lives so greatly, a person may start to feel anger, stress, or anxiety because of the interruption of the chronic illness in a person’s life.
There are many ways to categorize illness and disease; one of the most common is chronic illness. Many chronic illnesses have been related to altered health maintenance hypertension and cardiovascular diseases are associated with diet and stress, deficient in exercise, tobacco use, and obesity (Craven 2009). Some researchers define the chronic illness as diseases which have long duration and generally slow development (WHO 2013); it usually takes 6 month or longer than 6 month, and often for the person's life. It has a sluggish onset and eras of reduction for vanishing the symptoms and exacerbation for reappear the symptoms. Some of chronic illness can be directly life-threatening. Others remain over time and need intensive management, such as diabetes, so chronic illness affects physical, emotional, logical, occupational, social, or spiritual functioning. Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, all of these diseases are the cause of mortality in the world, representing 63% of all deaths. So a chronic illness can be stressful and may change the way a person l...
Asthma symptoms can range from mild to very severe. A person may experience only occasional severe episodes one time and then experience frequents mild episodes. According to the book, Living Well With Asthma, there are four main symptoms of an asthma attack. Since an attack can be so overwhelming and frightening, it may be difficult to know what’s going on inside of a persons body. Here are the major elements of an asthma attack:
The uncertain nature of chronic illness takes many forms, but all are long-term and cannot be cured. The nature of chronic illness raises hesitation. It can disturb anyone, irrespective of demographics or traditions. It fluctuates lives and generates various inquiries for the patient. Chronic illness few clear features involve: long-lasting; can be managed but not cured; impacts quality of life; and contribute to stress. Chronic illnesses can be enigmatic. They often take considerable time to identify, they are imperceptible and often carry a stigma because there is little sympathetic or social support. Many patients receive inconsistent diagnoses at first and treatments deviate on an individual level. Nevertheless, some circumstances require
Asthma is a disease that currently has no cure and can only be controlled and managed through different treatment methods. If asthma is treated well it can prevent the flare up of symptoms such as coughing, diminish the dependence on quick relief medication, and help to minimize asthma attacks. One of the key factors to successful treatment of asthma is the creation of an asthma action plan with the help of a doctor that outlines medications and other tasks to help control the patient’s asthma ("How Is Asthma Treated and Controlled?"). The amount of treatment changes based on the severity of the asthma when it is first diagnosed and may be the dosage may be increased or decreased depending on how under control the patient’s asthma is. One of the main ways that asthma can be controlled is by becoming aware of the things that trigger attacks. For instance staying away from allergens such as pollen, animal fur, and air pollution can help minimize and manage the symptoms associated with asthma. Also if it is not possible to avoid the allergens that cause a patient’s asthma to flare up, they may need to see an allergist. These health professionals can help diagnosis what may need to be done in other forms of treatment such as allergy shots that can help decrease the severity of the asthma ("How Is Asthma Treated and Controlled?").