Week 8 Discussion 1 Case Study Discussion – Respiratory Disorders

I liked your post! I have gained many new pearls of wisdom. First, I didn’t know emphysema can lead to heart failure. Your post made it clear to me how that happens from the pulmonary vessels getting destroyed from the increased pressure of vasoconstriction-this can cause the right ventricle to eventually fail, as you mentioned.  In fact, cardiovascular diseases are the most important comorbidities in COPD (Morgan, Zakeri, & Quint 2018). I liked the picture from the article explaining COPD leading to cardiovascular issues so I posted it below! Secondly, I know about atelectasis, but I did not have this great of a knowledge of it until reading your post. Now I better understand how the anesthesia, for example, had and can continue to suppress the respiratory tract, possibly causing a mucus plug to form from buildup of secretions, as you stated. I liked your mention of the incentive spirometer. The fact that if the lungs are not reinflated quickly, they can become necrotic and infected makes it so important to provide things such as an incentive spirometers and early mobilization to prevent this in post-op patients, for example (Hubert & VanMeter 2018).

In my PMHNP tract, an example could include a patient who has not sought a primary care or medical help in a very long time who unknowingly has undiagnosed emphesyma. Until something very bad happens to this patient, they will continue to have emphysemic changes such as more inflated alveolar air spaces, leading to more neutrophils in the alveoli as well (Hubert & VanMeter 2018). This patient may not have adequate resources, or family/friend support. It is important that a social work consult be placed, and maybe a consult to psychiatry as there could be underlying conditions such as depression or anxiety about seeking medical care, that needs to be addressed.

References:

Hubert, R. J. & VanMeter K. C. (2018). Gould’s Pathophysiology for the Health Professions (6th ed.). Elsevier Saunders