Respiratory disorders.
This week we will be covering respiratory disorders. As you read up on respiratory disorders, keep in mind that there are also treatment guidelines for many of them.
For asthma, there is a stepwise treatment approach that has been adopted as the standard treatment guidelines and is endorsed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Global Initiative for Asthma. This stepwise approach is different for different age groups, so make sure you follow the appropriate one for your patient. This stepwise treatment approach to asthma will also be the focus of this week’s paper, due by the end of the day Sunday.
For COPD, there is the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) and the respective GOLD Criteria which can be used to stratify patients and select treatment. The GOLD Criteria have undergone some recent changes, so while reading up on them make sure you are following the most recent version.
Finally, if looking at respiratory infections, there are the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) treatment guidelines which are a great resource. This resource should be used whenever looking at preferred treatments for any infectious diseases. Also, there is the Sanford Guide which is a great resource for many infectious diseases, including community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP).
Hopefully, these treatment guidelines will give you an idea of how these diseases are treated and some of the pharmacological agents that are often used.
This week, instead of a paper you will be creating a 5-6 slide PowerPoint presentation on the stepwise approach to asthma treatment. Be sure to research and discuss the fact that the stepwise steps vary depending on the age of the patient. Also, be sure to discuss what clinical markers are assessed to determine whether a patient needs to step up or step down in therapy. Make sure to add your detail and all information on the slide itself and not in the notes section below the slide as I will not be able to see your notes.
Good luck this week! I look forward to some great presentations!
