Medications for Asthma: In a Nutshell (Nursing)

00:01 Okay, so let's wrap this up.

00:03 Asthma is a chronic disease process.

00:06 That means, it goes on and on and on. Right? It's not an acute event.

00:10 They have acute exacerbations but it is a chronic disease process.

00:15 Underline the words: smooth muscle.

00:18 Because I really wanna make sure that you have a good understanding that smooth muscle in the respiratory system is what causes that bronchoconstriction and really narrows those airways.

00:28 They were already narrow before and it clamps down on 'em.

00:33 The inflammatory response is what causes all that mucus and junk to fill up their airways.

00:38 So if we're gonna do really good care of patients with respiratory problems like asthma, need to make sure that the medication plan addresses both inflammation and bronchoconstriction.

00:51 You have to know the difference.

00:53 For acute attacks, that you wanna prioritize Short Acting Beta-2 Adrenergic Agonist.

01:00 So you need to be very careful that even though they all end in -EROL, you know which ones are appropriate in a rescue attack.

01:08 So if we want to prevent attacks, that's longer treatments So we'll use LABAs, glucocorticoids, leukotrine modifiers or our oldest friend in that list, Cromolyn.

01:21 Remember these are medications that will need to be taken everyday, on a regular basis and what go with those is to prevent attacks from happening.

01:30 But I keep going back to that point, don't forget, in an acute attack, you need a short acting beta-2 adrenergic agonist.

01:39 Well there you have it.

01:41 There's your introduction to the medications that we can use to save the lives of your respiratory patients in an asthma attack.