Theory and Application in Elevation of the Head in Reducing Preventing Ventilator Acquire Pneumonia - Essay Example

"Theory and Application in Elevation of the Head in Reducing Preventing Ventilator Acquire Pneumonia" is a great example of a paper on the respiratory system.
Pneumonia unlike many respiratory infections is preluded by more than just the biological or primarily speaking the airborne path. Similarly, it requires more attention and also requisite medical supplementation depending on the levels of extremities reaches by various patients at different exposure levels.

One of the recent afflictions cindered onto the pneumonia epidemic is the mechanical cause that has been also rifled on the scheme of causative agents. In this case, it is not a great deal of the bacterial or larval causing pathogen but is the side effects of the mechanical use of medical devices that in the long run alter the normal physiological setup of the body internally causing a recess in either the chemical or fluid constituents of the body.

There have been various advances suggesting just how the ventilator machine comes into play in afflicting the severely ill patients or the intensive care unit patients and the cutting edge is that it's majorly the nasal and bronchial constituents being altered hence reverting to pneumonic episodes.

A bronchoscopy technique has been severally used to analyze the deep default caused by the ventilator system and has been seen that the bronchial alveolar lavage fluid (BAL).

The high incidences of mortality and morbidity serve as primarily the main buffers of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).

Introduction

Polit and Beck in their journal essentials of nursing 8th edition have tried to advance the ideology and theory that head elevation can serve as an aiding element in preventing if not curing the ventilator-associated pneumonia

Furthermore, they argue that the bronchoscopy technique is not a sufficient choice in analyzing the pneumonic constituents. Nonetheless, they have advanced the head elevation ideology as a way of rescue or retribution of some sort.

Head elevation

The principle of head elevation is meant to incline the head at an angle relatively between 30* to 45*. The main principle behind it is that it helps revert the mucus effluents that are significantly at a high rate during the ventilator period and help in aerating the body.

The head elevation through a prescribed angle is described as a semi-upright position and as delved into by the subsequent accounts (Polit and Beker, 2014)

However, it has been described to have its disadvantages, and also more advances are being rifled towards it in terms of its incompetency as a method of preventing or eluding ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).

Application of the Head elevation

Delving into the research field, the application ability of the entire scheme comes into play significantly since it’s by research application and test that a theory can suffice for use in the medical world or any other field as per se.

The VAP is a form of pneumonia accosted to patients on a mechanical ventilator support system by an endotracheal tube or tracheostomy for than 48 hours.

The semi-upright position has been used tested on 22 patients at the Michigan state university respiratory center and it was seen that 20 out of the 22 patients showed a great positive response to the induced inclined position and likewise showed signs of early improvement and subsequent healing (Antonni, 1999)

To add to the list, the practicality of the theory was further tested on sample sheep since they showed a close to the same respiratory makeup as humans. It was seen that due to the inclined posture there was a reversal of mucus collection from the anterior regions to the posterior regions hence in a way reducing the collection and congestion of the tracheal path (Antonni, 2011).

Following these two research points, it can be clearly seen that the head elevation is a clear cut cloth for the treatment of the VAP ailment. In the International respiratory Council (IRC), the inclining of patients has been supplemented automatically in their bed position hence it’s fair to say that it is a theory that has been incepted. This can be heckled to the efforts of pioneers such as Drakulovic and partners who since 1999 have argued and advocated for the use of the head elevation technique (Polit and Beker, 2014).

Advantages of the head elevation

For starters, head elevation is a relatively cheap and easier method as compared to the other forms of pneumonia treatment techniques. Topping the list in terms of expensiveness is bronchoscopy, a technique that requires a very high level of scientific know-how and is very technical (Beker, 2014)

Furthermore, the head elevation has been described to not only settle the pneumonic effects but also checks for bodily balance in terms of ensuring a good and preferred physiological build.

Disadvantages

Just as with many of the medical applied techniques, there arise several side effects; the main a primarily that of grave concern is the venous stasis in lower extremities. However, the challenge posed by this is being supplemented and take care of by regular neuro checkups during time treatment.

Conclusion

In a nutshell and recap, the elevation of the head in the treatment of the ventilator-associated pneumonia VAP is of significance and it’s quite a great relief that it has been incepted into modern medicine as was the vision of earlier pioneers.