Asthma Essay
Introduction
Tariq is a seven year old boy who has had a history of eczema and asthma since early childhood. According to Guibas et al (2012) asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease of childhood: its prevalence has been rising in the western world for the last three decades. In Scotland, 368,000 people (1 in 14) are currently receiving treatment for asthma.
This includes 72,000 children and 296,000 adults. There are 5.4 million people living with asthma in the UK and around 1 million of these are children aged 16 years and younger.
Asthma UK. (2008)
At Tariq’s latest asthma review; it is found that he is using his reliever inhaler more often.
Tariq’s mother expresses disappointment about this as she was hoping Tariq would grow out of his asthma. Jose et al (2013) highlight the fact that in older children the level of asthma control is overestimated and conversely the impact asthma has on the everyday life of the child underestimated. They argue this is partly due to the difficulty of correctly assessing symptoms and also to the extent to which the child has adapted their lifestyle in order to avoid them.
The following discussion will attempt to address not only Tariq’s immediate asthma needs, but also his longer term management and if in fact he has simply been coping with his symptoms up until now by adapting his lifestyle.
Careful explanation and education will also be required to alleviate his mother’s concerns.
Initial assessment
A validated tool such as 'The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) three questions’ should be used to complete a thorough initial assessment to ensure Tariq is not currently having an asthma exacerbation as broad non-specific questions may underestimate the symptoms.
In the last month:
1 Have you had difficulty sleeping because of asthma symptoms (including cough)?
2 Have you had your usual asthma symptoms during the day (cough, wheeze, chest tightness or breathlessness)?
3 Has
Tariq is a seven year old boy who has had a history of eczema and asthma since early childhood. According to Guibas et al (2012) asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease of childhood: its prevalence has been rising in the western world for the last three decades. In Scotland, 368,000 people (1 in 14) are currently receiving treatment for asthma.
This includes 72,000 children and 296,000 adults. There are 5.4 million people living with asthma in the UK and around 1 million of these are children aged 16 years and younger.
Asthma UK. (2008)
At Tariq’s latest asthma review; it is found that he is using his reliever inhaler more often.
Tariq’s mother expresses disappointment about this as she was hoping Tariq would grow out of his asthma. Jose et al (2013) highlight the fact that in older children the level of asthma control is overestimated and conversely the impact asthma has on the everyday life of the child underestimated. They argue this is partly due to the difficulty of correctly assessing symptoms and also to the extent to which the child has adapted their lifestyle in order to avoid them.
The following discussion will attempt to address not only Tariq’s immediate asthma needs, but also his longer term management and if in fact he has simply been coping with his symptoms up until now by adapting his lifestyle.
Careful explanation and education will also be required to alleviate his mother’s concerns.
Initial assessment
A validated tool such as 'The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) three questions’ should be used to complete a thorough initial assessment to ensure Tariq is not currently having an asthma exacerbation as broad non-specific questions may underestimate the symptoms.
In the last month:
1 Have you had difficulty sleeping because of asthma symptoms (including cough)?
2 Have you had your usual asthma symptoms during the day (cough, wheeze, chest tightness or breathlessness)?
3 Has
References: Asthma UK. Where do we stand? Asthma in the UK today. (2008). Available from:http://www.asthma.org.uk/document.rm Date accessed: April 2013. Galant SP, Morphew T, Newcomb RL, Hioe K, Guijon O, Liao O (2011). The Relationship of the Bronchodilator Response Phenotype to Poor Asthma Control in Children with Normal Spirometry. JPediatrics 158:953 Epublication. Jan13. George V Guibas, Michael Makris, Nikolaos G Papadopoulos (2012). Acute asthma exacerbations in childhood. Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine 6(6) 629-638. National Asthma Council (Austrailia) (2012) Leading the Attack against Asthma. Available from: http://www.nationalasthma.org.au/ Date accessed April 2013. Newcomb P (2009). Safe Control of Pest and Pet Asthma Triggers. Journal for Nurse Practitioner 5(8):571-578. Scottish Intellercollegiate Guidelines Network 101 for Asthma (2011) Shen J, Johnston M, Hays R (2011). Asthma Outcome Measures. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research 11(4):447-453. Sunshine J, Song L, Krieger J (2011). Written Action Plan Use in Inner-City Children: Is It Independently Associated With Improved Asthma Outcomes? Annals of Allergy, Asthma Immunology 107:207-213. World Allergy Organisation. (2000-2013). A World Federation of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology Societies: Combined Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Syndrome