Disease Study Focus Tool

Disease: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)- Asthma and Croup

1. Etiology- What causes this disease?
2. The etiology of Croup, a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is Parainfluenza Virus (Banasik, 2021).
3. The etiology of Asthma is allergic, viral, or multifactorial that affects the bronchioles of children aged 6 months to 3 years and above in their lungs (Banasik, 2021).
4. Pathogenesis
5. What happens at the cellular, tissue, or organ levels?
6. Croup causes swelling in cells and tissues of the trachea of an infant or a child that causes difficulty in breathing. In most cases, it progresses to necrosis in the child (Banasik, 2021).
7. Asthma is a chronic obstructive condition where pulmonary cells are affected as they are related to inflammation.
8. How does that alter the function of the associated system?
9. An infant or a child with Croup may suffer from swelling in the trachea, blockage in the airways to the lungs, and also difficulty in digestion as children will not be able to get fluid intake due to shortness of breath.
10. Asthma causes inflammation in the larynx (Banasik, 2021). Dehydration is also the risk factor that can lead a child to death because children usually are unable to get drinks, milk, or any fluid during the severity of asthma.
11. How does it impact the function of the body as a whole?
12. Croup impacts the function of the body as it infiltrates white blood cells (WBCs) that lead to less immunity in the child’s body.
13. Asthma in children affects the whole body processes as it damages red blood cells (RBCs) that collect oxygen from the lungs and transmit it to all the organs and body parts. During an asthma attack, a child may have low RBCs level which can lead a child’s body to have less oxygen (Banasik, 2021).
14. Clinical Manifestations
15. What signs will you observe or measure?
16. Croup is preceded by inflammation symptoms in the upper respiratory tract. Signs that can be measured and observed include barking cough, shortness of breath, high temperature, and running nose (Banasik, 2021).
17. Asthma is usually preceded by inflammatory symptoms in genetically predisposed infants and children who suffer from the obstruction of airways to the lungs. Signs include wheezing, constant coughing, running nose, itchy eyes, allergic condition, congestion, etc (Banasik, 2021).
18. What symptoms will the client experience or feel?
19. A caregiver or a parent may observe airway obstruction, high temperature, running nose, hoarse sound, barking cough, shortness of breath, and difficulty in feeding on the part of a child with Croup.
20. Epithelial cells in the airway to the lungs are blocked in Asthma that initiates shortness of breath, constant coughing, worsening condition during the night, wheezing, airway narrowing, itchy eyes, and runny nose (Banasik, 2021).
21. What abnormal labs and diagnostic tests confirm or support the diagnosis of the disease?
22. A child specialist will diagnose a child with Croup by listening to the breathing and cough of the young child. Besides, an X-ray of the chest can be conducted to rule out other severe conditions.
23. For diagnosing Asthma in a young child, a FeNO test is conducted through FeNO machines that measure inflammation in the airways to the lungs by observing how the child with symptoms of Asthma breathes out a long steady breath. This test is conducted to diagnose whether the child has allergic asthma or the symptoms are due to genetic reasons.
24. Treatment Implications
25. Briefly explain the types of treatments used.
26. A parent or any adult present around the child should immediately put the child’s head in an upright position. In case of worsening symptoms, parents should call 911 for emergency help.
27. The child should be positioned upright and nebulized if he/she experiences difficulty in breathing. Call 911 for emergency help so that child will be provided with quality care.
28. What are the goals of treatment in relation to the pathophysiology?

Infants and children are vulnerable creatures, therefore, treatment and immediate emergency help should be provided on an immediate basis in relation to the pathophysiology of both diseases of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases; Croup, and Asthma to save vulnerable lives.

1. Are we seeking a cure, remission, or palliative care?

Caregivers seek a quality cure in relation to the pathophysiology of COPD and its related diseases to provide infants of age 6 months and young children of age 3 to 12 years to make them able to live their life to their fullest. The goal is to prevent the children from side effects of the diseases and provide them quality treatment at the early stage of their life.

References

Banasik, J. L. (2021). Pathophysiology. (7^th ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences. US.