Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary DiseaseThe lungs are one of the most important organs in the human corpse. Without the lungs a mortal is unable to intake oxygen that is need to life. There are many problems that can develop within the lungs. Chronic preventive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common lung diseases. This musical theme will discuss the epidemiology and pathophysiology of COPD. The pre-hospital interference of COPD will also be covered. A detailed sample of a field impression and treatment protrude will also be illustrated.Chronic impeding pulmonary disease causes a person to scram difficulty in breathing. There are to main forms of COPD chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Chronic bronchitis is a long-term cough that produces mucous secretion. Emphysema is the destruction of the lungs of a period of time. n betimes people that have COPD have a combination of chronic bronchitis and emphysema. There are several causes of COPD, with skunk being the most p revalent. The more a person smokes, the more likely they are to develop COPD. There are also several causes of COPD in non-smokers. Patients who lack the protein alpha-1 antitrypsin can develop emphysema. Other airway irritants much(prenominal) as, exposure to gases and fumes in the workplace, second-hand smoke, and frequent use of cooking gases without ventilation are other potential risk factors. Again, smoking is the primary cause of COPD except someone can be a lifelong smoker and not develop COPD.All diseases have a pathophysiologic reason as to how and why it affects the body. However, agree to the American Academy of Family Physicians, COPD does not have a clear pathophysiology. What is known about COPD is that the cells of the bronchial tree have been subjected to chronic inflammation. This inflammation is caused by smoking and other irritants that mentioned previously. When the cells of the bronchial tree are inflamed it causes the smooth muscles of the airway to constri ction excessively. This hyperactivity causes the airway to become swollen, production of excess amounts of mucus, and decreased effectiveness of the cilia. As COPD progress, longanimouss begin to have difficulty clearing secretions, which causes a chronic productive cough, wheezing and difficulty breathing. Due to the inability for the patient to clear the productive cough, mucus begins to collect in the airway. The collection of mucus is an issue because it collects bacteria and cause causes infections. Both chronic bronchitis and emphysema caused airway stop. In cases of chronic bronchitis the airway is obstruction caused by the build-up of mucus describe previously. In cases of emphysema, the alveoli become enlarged an eventu aloney destroy. This hinders the necessary exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has many negative effects on the body that impedes the body from respiring efficiently.Just like every condition chronic obstructive pul monary disease has signs and symptoms that all providers the ability to both diagnosis and treat their patients. The classic signs of COPD include an ongoing productive cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, and tightness in the chest. These symptoms can appear both early and late in the disease process. If a patients show ups with these symptoms early, indeed it is possible that they have not lost the ability effectively move air. COPD patients may also present with the following symptoms difficulty catching breath, signs of cyanosis such as blue or gray lips and nail beds, alerted mental post, and tachycardia. It is important for the provider to have good appraisal skills so that he/she picks up on these signs and symptoms. Most COPD patients that an EMS provider will come in contact with will already be diagnosed with the disease, thus devising it important for the provider to obtain SAMPLE and OPQRST history. After the provider has concluded that this patient is suffering fro m chronic obstructive pulmonary disease it is time for treatment to begin.The treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is pretty straight forward in the pre-hospital arena. Due to difficulty breathing, the patient should be placed on high- melt down oxygen via non-rebreather. The provider should keep a constant monitor on the patients pulse oximetry to issue adequate oxygen levels in the blood. If the patient is wheezing then a nebulized albuterol treatment is indicated. Albuterol dilates the airway, thus increasing air movement. The next step in the treatment plan should be obtaining intravenous access code for medicine administration. A blood draw should also be performed at this time. The provider should monitor the patients electrocardiogram. If accessible the provider should also obtain a 12-lead ECG and monitor Capnography. If the patient continues wheezing after the initial albuterol treatment, a second dosage should be administered after ten minutes. If wheezing still continues, the provider should consider administering Solu-Medrol intravenously. Solu-Medrol is a parenteral steroid that attempts to lower the inflammation of the cells in the bronchial tree. If the patients pulse oximetry is below 90 percent on high flow oxygen via non-rebreather, the provider should consider use of positive-pressure ventilation. There are two types of positive-pressure ventilation, bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP) and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Since topical anesthetic protocols allow the use of CPAP, it will be used for the purposes of this paper. CPAP decreases the workload of the patient on inspiration. CPAP also keeps the alveoli open allowing better gas exchange. Fluid build-up in the lungs is other indication for CPAP. The positive pressure supplied by a CPAP device will push the fluid from the lungs back into the vascular space. CPAP is contraindication on patients with altered mental status and systolic blood pressure of less than 100. With the treatment plan listed above, the pre-hospital provider should be able to effective treat a symptomatic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patient.Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is disease that Emergency Medical Services provider will have to deal with on a daily basis in a busy locality. This is caused mainly by the high popularity of tobacco smoking in the United States over the get going century. COPD can by a gateway to other medical issues in the body, such as congestive heart failure and infection. The effects on the body in COPD patients works like a chain reaction, inflammation causes fluid build-up, which causes airway compromise and possibly infection. Patients suffering from COPD should immediate stop smoking. The treatment plan describe above is straight forward and can provide short term relief in the pre-hospital setting. Like stated at the beginning of this paper Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a like changing disease that ca n destroy one of the bodys most important organs, the lungs, and if a patient is unable to breath, they will die