Spacers and Nebulizer (Nursing)

00:01 Now we talked initially about spacers and I wanna just to explain to you, they cost a lot when they come from your insurance company but really they're just a small chamber that attaches to the inhaler.

00:11 The medication from the metered dose inhaler are sprayed into the spacer.

00:15 Then the patient can, it kinda suspends it in there so that the patient can slowly inhale that into their lungs.

00:23 That prevents them from getting it on the sides of their mouth.

00:26 This is really helpful with pediatric patients but sometimes, adult patients are worse than pediatric patients.

00:33 So a spacer is just a brilliant little attachment, hooks on toward the mouth pieces instead of them putting that right into their mouth, the spacer would be connected to the medicince and then the patient will put their mouth on the spacer.

00:46 And it significantly improves how much medication actually gets down to the lungs.

00:51 So always consider using a spacer if this become problematic for the patient.

00:55 Now a nebulizer helps turn liquid medication into a mist that the patient can breathe deeply into their lungs.

01:04 So any parent of a kid with asthma or has chronic respiratory issues, they know what these are.

01:10 For little kids, they come in all kinds of fun shapes, dragons and panda bears and princesses.

01:16 For the adults it's usually just a box.

01:19 But a nebulizer, you just put some medicine in the connection.

01:22 You can also use nebulizers in the hospital connected to a mask.

01:26 But anyway, as the air goes by that, it turns the medication into a mist that can be inhaled.

01:32 That's what a nebulizer is and it's a pretty effective way because you're giving medication over a longer period of time.

01:39 and the patient can just breathe normally.

01:42 We don't have to get them to hold their breath for 10 seconds.

01:46 So inhalation, the MDIs - the metered dose inhalers or dry micronized powder is a really simple way to use an inhaled medication.

01:55 It can be carried in your pocket or in your purse.

01:58 Remember, spacers will help your patient get more of that medication down to where we want it to go and a lot less of it stuck on their mouth or on their throat.

02:08 Nebulizers require a machine and at home, there will be either a really fun shaped one for your pediatric patients or a simple box for the adults.

02:16 In a hospital, we can actually hook the nebulizer right to an oxygen mask and give a breathing treatment that way.

02:23 Oral medications and IV medications are signs that your patients are having a hard time managing their asthma attacks with just inhaled medications.

02:33 So your patients are gonna have more systemic effects and it is a sign that your patient is not doing as well.

02:38 As we're preparing to send them home, it will be fantastic if we can get them back in just the inhaled medications.

02:45 There's only 1 subq which stands out in your mind, it's the IgE antagonist we discussed.

02:49 Remember, it had that really fun name.

02:52 And the last thing is, the peak expiratory flow rate.

02:57 This is a small meter that can be used in the community.

03:01 It should be correlated with some type of written plan with their health care provider.

03:05 Let me tell you what this does.

03:07 A PEFR is a way of just measuring what their normal expiratory flow rate is.

03:13 If they're heading into attack, that would become lower and lower.

03:17 If your patient, we know what normal baseline is for them, then we know that we'd give them the regular medications.

03:24 If they're starting to get into a little bit of trouble, when they measure this, their numbers will be a little bit lower and the healthcare provider will decide, "Hey, take more of this med or more of that med or add this medication." The very specific written out instructions for the patient to follow.

03:40 If you're in the red zone, the health care provider, I mean if you've really been compromised, your PEFR is much lower than your baseline which is considered green, you're gonna be in big trouble.

03:49 So it's gonna essentially say, "Take these medications on the way to the ER." That's what PEFR is.

03:55 Every asthma patient should have a plan from their healthcare provider on how to adjust their medications and to recognize when they're getthing into trouble.

04:05 This gives us a quantifiable number to know beyond how the patient's just feeling, although that's important, we get some real numbers and knowing how they're being affected.

04:15 Thank you for watching our video.