Asthma and Health Education Principles - Assignment Example

Asthma and Health Education Principles Name Institution Instructor Course Date of Submission Part 1: Asthma Asthma is a chronic disease which affects the respiratory system. It is an inflammatory disease due to overesponsiveness of the respiratory system to specific allergens. Asthma affects only two parts of the respiratory system, which are namely the broche and the bronchiole. It does not affect the alveoli. An asthmatic attack is life threatening since it interferes with gaseous exchange in the body. The response to any type of asthmatic attack should be very fast in order to save the life of the patient (Waugh and Grant, 2006). Pathophysiology: once exposed to an allergen, the bronchi and the bronchioles respond immunologically. They mucosal membranes covering them become irritated and there is mucosal edema due to this inflammation. The swelling causes narrowing of the bronchial airway and the amount of oxygen entering the respiratory system becomes limited. Worse still, the bronchial muscles (which surround the airways) contract; this contraction leads to further narrowing of the respiratory system. Additionally the bronchioles respond by producing large amounts of mucus. Production of large amounts of mucus leads to obstruction of the airways and gaseous exchange within the respiratory system because the mucus tends to block the airway. All these result to difficulty in breathing, chest tightness, coughing and wheezing (Smeltzer and Cheever, 2009). There are several cells I the body which are responsible for the inflammatory response during an asthmatic attack. These include the mast cells, the eosinophil, basophils and lymphocytes. When these cells are activated by different allergens, they produce some chemical substances referred to as mediators. Theses mediators include histamines, prostaglandins and leukotriene, which trigger the inflammatory response within the bronchi and bronchioles. Treatment of asthma is aimed at regulating these mediators (Smeltzer and Cheever, 2009). Clinical manifestation of asthma include a cough, which does not have any sputum dyspnea (difficulty i breathing) and wheezing. Sometimes the cough is accompanied by some small amounts of sputum. The wheezing is more pronounced during expiration, though in severe cases it is also heard during inspiration process. There is also some evidence of chest tightness during an asthmatic attack and very severe difficulty in breathing (Waugh and Grant, 2006). The main triggers of an asthmatic attack are environmental factors. These are inclusive of allergens such as pollen grains, molds, spores, pets epithelial cells and fur amongst others; indoor air pollutants from volatile compounds such as perfumes, soaps, detergents, deodrants etc.; medicines such as aspirin and penicillin amongst others; food allergies such as peanuts, milk eggs e.t.c; sulfite sensitivity and salicylate sensitivity, fossil fuel such as smog, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide; early childhood infections such as U.T.Is in young children, excessive exercise or any activities which involves excessive usage of the respiratory system; psychological stress(modulates the immune system and cause increased inflammatory responses to allergens. It is also believed that climatically changes can trigger an asthmatic attack in different people. While some people get an attack upon moving to places with high altitudes, others get an attack upon moving to places with low altitude. The cause/trigger of an asthmatic attack tends to vary from one person to another. Different people have different triggers depending on their immunological responses to the different factors. Each individual has to be treated as a unique entity and the cause identified during the management of asthma (Smeltzer and Cheever, 2009). Complications of asthma include status asthmatics (this is persistent asthma which does not respond to any form of conventional treatment therapy available in the market; respiratory failure due to insufficient gaseous exchange. It may also lead to atelectasis which is the collapsing of the alveoli due to sufficient gaseous exchange. Moreover, due to lack of oxygen in the lungs there may end up being insufficient oxygen within the blood (hypoxemia). The patient may also experience dehydration, owing to the fact that they lose a lot of water from their bodies as they struggle to breathe in and out, they also tend to sweat a lot during the process and due to hypoventilation (Waugh and Grant, 2006). The medical movement of asthma can be through use of two main types of medication. These include the quick relief medication for immediate treatment of asthma and use of log acting medications which are inclusive of long acting anti-inflammatory medications. These include use of corticosteroids and beta2 adrenergic agonists (Smeltzer and Cheever, 2009). Prevention of asthma Asthma is best managed after identification of the actual cause or trigger within different individuals. The patients should undergo some tests it in order for the medic to identify the main cause of the asthmatic attack. After identifying the key cause of the asthmatic attack, the patient is then given quality health education in order to help them live with the disease successfully. Asthma affects the patient’s ability to do his/her daily activity since the patient can to work while having breathing problems (Shumaker and Ockene, 2010). Part 2: Principles of Health Teaching and Learning Health education is very key in the management of most health problems. During Health education, the person giving the health talk should ensure that the patient receives the correct message in the right time and in an effective way. The care giver should identify the health should be aimed at. In order for a health message to be effective, the educator has to consider five main aspects of human nature, which are the basis of the principles of learning and teaching. These principles include interest, participation, Comprehensition, motivation, reinforcement and teaching from known to the unknown (Ross and Mico, 2006). According to the psychological principle, students do not pay any attention to things that do not interest them. Therefore, the first principle of teaching and learning in health education is to capture the interest of the student, and make them willing to learn. It also involves the leaner’s needs and interest. It can only be achieved through selection of a topic which is of interest to the student in order to make them willing to learn. The second principle is participation. Contribution of the learner during the learning course enables them to learn more actively, as compared to passive learning of the student. Once a student is actively involved in the learning activity they understand whatever is being taught in a superior way as measure up to when they are made passive (Shumaker and Ockene, 2010). Comprehension is a key principle of learning and teaching in health education. It is vital that the student understands whatever is being taught to them by their educator. The educator should judge the learning capacity of his/her student and put a message in a structure that can be undoubtedly understood by the student. The educator should avoid complex explanations and make I simple for the learner to learn and understand. Reinforcement is another important principle of learning. Most people do not learn a thing within the first session of teaching and, therefore, it is imperative for the teacher to repeat the same topic several times and asses the level of learning that has taken place (Ross and Mico, 2006). Additionally, there is a need to motivate the learner to learn. Motivations can be of different forms which include being awarded, being appreciated and being congratulated on a certain achievement. Motivation keeps the student’s desire to learn and to apply whatever they learn. Anther principle of learning is learning through doing, or using learning resources for the student to learn to use them. This helps the student to cultivate the principle of doing things in a certain way, rather than just hearing how things are done. By doing and seeing the student, is able to understand and remember things in a better way as compared to learning without doing. The last principle is the principle of learning from known to unknown. The existing knowledge should be used as a baseline of new knowledge. The teacher should advance from what the students know to what they do not know. They should build up to the existing knowledge and this makes the leaner understand things in a better manner (Shumaker and Ockene, 2010). Part 3: Application of health teaching and learning principles The teaching and health principles are vital while delivering health message to the patients suffering from asthma or predisposed to asthma. According to the principle of interest there is needed to capture the learner’s interest to learn. This should be done by selecting a topic which is of interest to the group learning. In this case, the educator should select a health message which concerns the patient’s at hand. For instance, he/she can choose to teach the patient on the pathophysiology of asthma, the predisposing factors to an asthmatic attack, the management of asthma or even the prevention of asthmatic attacks. This would keep the learner willing to learn as the educator would be discussing a topic which concerns them (Shumaker and Ockene, 2010). The second principle which involves comprehension is also very key during the delivery of health messages concerning asthma. It is vital for the educator to understand the leaning ability of the patient at hand. For instance, he/she should learn whether the patient can understand what is meant by the words bronchodilators, bronchiole, mediators and such medical jargons. Rather than using the jargons, it would be better for the educator to use words which are more easily understood by the patient. Simple words would make it easier for the student to learn. For instance instead of talking about bronchodilators, the educator can just say “medications that will open up the lungs and making it easier to breath”, while dealing with less learned patient (Ross and Mico, 2006). The third principle which includes motivation to learn is very key during the health education on asthma. There is a need for the patient to feel the need to learn about the disease. The educator may choose to motivate the patient by giving them by appreciating their ability to learn and apply whatever they have learnt effectively. This can be through giving them awards such as free medications for the treatment of their disease, appreciating them through a word of mouth, to name but a few (Shumaker and Ockene, 2010). The principle of learning to use resources is also very key in the learning process of asthma. In this case, dummies can be used to demonstrate how inhalers treatment can be administered to a patient in case of an asthmatic attack. Slide shows can also be used to show how the lungs respond upon being exposed to allergens to name but a few. The patient can also be encouraged to learn through doing, whereby the patient will have to participate in their own care. The patient can be asked to practice whatever they have learnt and a follow up done to ensure that they do so (Ross and Mico, 2006). References Ross, Helen S., and Mico, Paul R.2006. Theory and practice in health education. Mayfield Publishing Co.: Palo Alto, CA. Moynihan M, Kochar V, Sarma UC, Tandon J, Wantamutte AS, Rai PH, Marwah S, Gupta VM, Singh K. 2005.Training folk practitioners as PHWs in rural India. Int J Health Educ. Shumaker, S.A., Schron, E.B., and Ockene, J. K.2010. The handbook of health behavior change. Springer Publishing Co.: New York. Waugh A. and Grant Allison.2006. Ross and Wilson Anatomy An d Physiology(10th edition).U.S.A:Elsevier publishers. Smeltzer,B. and Cheever,H..2009.Bruner and suddarth textbook of medical surgical nursing(11th edition).lippincot publishers. Read More