Editing Medical-Surgical Nursing (section)

=== Asthma ===

Asthma is reversible airway inflammation, bronchospasm, and mucus plugging. Findings include wheezing, chest tightness, cough that is often worse at night, prolonged expiration, and decreased peak expiratory flow.

Nursing application: a sudden absence of wheezing in a patient who is still in distress is ominous, not reassuring. It means airflow has become too limited to generate sound and signals impending respiratory failure. Escalate immediately.

Medication teaching: use the short-acting beta agonist rescue inhaler first, wait the recommended interval, then use the inhaled corticosteroid, and rinse the mouth after the corticosteroid to prevent oral candidiasis. A spacer improves delivery. Peak flow in the green zone is eighty to one hundred percent of personal best, yellow is fifty to seventy-nine percent and signals caution, and red is below fifty percent and requires rescue medication and prompt help.