Research Proposal on Estimating the Impact of Improving Inhaler Techniques for Asthmatic Patient

Post Title: Research Proposal on Estimating the Impact of Improving Inhaler Techniques for Asthmatic PatientDate Added: October 14th, 2011Posted in Objectives Of The Study ExamplesTags: Asthmatic, Estimating, Impact, Improving, Inhaler, patient, Proposal, Research, Techniques Summary : Estimating the Impact of Improving inhaler Techniques for Asthmatic Patient Introduction Most of the victims of asthma are children and their population is growing faster. Although there is a continuous innovation of medicines every year, parents and people are underestimating its effectiveness on children. Through this rationale, this paper proposes to conduct a study that [...]
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Is using an expired inhaler bad?

Every day at MyAsthmaCentral.com we get lots of asthma related questions. Below are some questions I thought my readers at the RT Cave would enjoy.Your Question: can babies 9 weeks old have asthma

Your question: can you take advair and sprivia the same day

My humble answer: Absolutely. This medicine combination is used quite a bit for patients with lung disease, and they are proven safe and effective.

Your quesiton: I have mild asthma and my doctor thinks I should stop using Symbicort because he says I’m too dependent on it

My humble answer: Continue taking it. Symbicort is a very good medicine for controllilng asthma, and it’s now recommended as a top line asthma therapy. It’s very safe so long as you use it as prescribed. If you get worse when you stop taking it, that means it works for you and you should not quit taking it. If your doctor is a good asthma doctor he should have no problem with you taking a medicine that works so well for you. If he’s worried about the safety of this medicine, check out this post.

Your question: Is using an expired inhaler bad?

My humble answer: Expired asthma medicines are still safe, although after a medicine has sat on the shelf a while it looses its efficacy. Ventolin is usually good for about a year, at which point the chemicals start to break down. I have used expired inhalers before, and most of the time they still work just fine for mild asthma. Yet if you’re having an asthma exacerbation, an expired inhaler might not help you as well as a new inhaler would. Another problem with expired inhalers is the mist tents to taste like rotten mints (my opinion). I believe any pharmacist would recommend you throw your old inhalers out after a year and get new ones that are fully potent.

If you have any further questions email me, or Visit MyAsthmaCentral.com’s Q&A section.

Nurse refuses student inhaler during asthma attack

School says medical release form lacked parent’s signature

Volusia County School officials stand by a Deltona High School nurse’s decision to refuse a student his inhaler during an asthma attack, citing a lack of a parent’s signature on a medical release form.

“It’s like something out of a horror film. The person just sits there and watches you die,” said Michael Rudi, 17. “She sat there, looked at me and she did nothing.”

He said the school dean found his inhaler during a search of his locker. The inhaler was still in its original packaging — complete with his name and directions for its use; however, the school took it away because his mother hadn’t signed the proper form for him to have it.

School leaders called Sue Rudi when her son started having trouble breathing. She rushed to the office and was taken back to the nurse’s office by school administrators and they discovered the teen on the floor.

“As soon as we opened up the door, we saw my son collapsing against the wall on the floor of the nurse’s office while she was standing in the window of the locked door looking down at my son, who was in full-blown asthma attack,” Rudi said.

Michael Rudi said when he started to pass out from his attack, the nurse locked the door.

“I believe that when I closed my eyes I wasn’t going to wake up,” he said.
The Director of Student Health Services, Cheryl Selesky, said that parents must sign the medical release form each year, which allows students to carry their prescribed drugs with them in school.

This year, the district had no record of his Rudi’s signature, said Selesky.

“I mean its common sense if I saw an animal on the street in distress I would probably stop to help, why wouldn’t she help a child,” Sue Rudi said.
But Rudi is a senior, and his mother said the district has had records of his asthma throughout his years in the school.

She thinks her son could have died because of a technicality.

“How dare you deny my son something that we all take for granted, breath,” said Sue Rudi. “Why didn’t someone call 911?”

Selesky said the district is looking into whether proper procedures were followed by the school, and while nurses can’t give medications without the proper authorization, it is district policy to call 911 when a student cannot breath.

Selesky could not explain why 911 was never called.

“I understand if you can’t give it to him call 911,” Sue Rudi said. “Why did you not call 911?”

Sue Rudi said she worries about the next student caught in a similar situation, and has filed charges against the nurse with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.

“I want to press child endangerment charges for something they did to my son,” Rudi said in the 911 call.

Are you dependent on your rescue inhaler too?

Yep, that’s right! I am dependent on my rescue inhaler. It’s kind of like that old commercial for Master Card: I never leave home without it. And when I do the bronchodilator anxiety strikes.

The following is one of my favorite posts over at my asthma blog at MyAsthmaCentral.com

Bronchodilator Anxiety
by Rick Frea Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @MyAsthmaCentral.com

So it’s 6 a.m. and I’m driving down I-75 South in Georgia in the wee hours of the morning when the anxiety strikes. I couldn’t find my rescue inhaler. My Ventolin had gone missing.

Did I leave it in the hotel? Did I leave it in the lobby? Did my wife pack it in the bathroom bag? I looked behind me and her head was resting on a pillow. I wasn’t about to wake her to ask. The kids were sleeping soundly too. So I continued to roll possibilities around in my head.

Thankfully I follow my own tips for vacationing with asthma and had three inhalers packed, and all in different places. I had one in the suitcase, but that wasn’t going to help me now. And I certainly wasn’t going to pull the car over to check. We were on the way to Florida (Mickey was waiting) and were already running behind.

I looked on the cup holder under the radio. It wasn’t there. I felt between the door and the seat. It wasn’t there. I felt in my pocket. Nope! While focusing on the road, I reached my right hand over the cooler that set between the seats. Not there either.

Then a thought occurred to me: “You’re being ridiculous. You’re panicking over nothing.” It was true. I wasn’t even short of breath. The past two days of travel from Michigan I barely even used it. My asthma has been pretty well controlled the past two years, and my rescue inhaler usage greatly diminished.

Yet that didn’t matter. Old habits, they say, die a long, hard death. That old faithful inhaler had been part of my life since I was first introduced to Alupent when I was a ten-year-old boy in 1980, and later to Ventolin in 1991. I wrote about being a bronchodilatoraholic, someone who used his bronchodilator medicine (which most peope call their rescue inhaler) far too often. An inhaler in my possession was my lifeline. It was like having a third hand. Even now when I need it less often, when it’s gone I feel a true sense of loss.

Like at home, every morning I woke up on my vacation, one of my first thoughts was, “Where’s my inhaler?” When I was a kid I slept with one in my grip, so when it’s not there I get a little anxious. Then I remembered I set it on the bedside stand. There it was in all its blue glory.

When I go to bed at night I have to concentrate where I set it last, because when I get up in the night I need to know where to find it. Sometimes, though, I wake up in the middle of the night feeling alongside the bed in the dark.

My wife woke up once when I was doing this. She said, “What are you doing?” Modestly, I lied “Nothing dear!” I inhale. The breath seems somewhat tight. Now many options fill my mind: Do I try to sleep through it? Do I turn the light on? Do I rummage the house looking for the other one’s I’ve lost?

I remember when I was growing up with hard-luck asthma excitedly racing my brothers David and Bobby to the family car shouting, “Shotgun!” I won this time. It was always nice to ride in the front seat. It was a great day. That was until half way to grandma’s my heart fluttered as I realized I didn’t have my inhaler with me.

I felt my pockets several times. It was not there. While my asthma was fine when I left home, I was now feeling short of breath. I knew the only reason I was short of breath was because of my bronchodilator anxiety. If I have it I’m fine. If I don’t have it I’m bound to have an asthma attack. It’s an asthma rule.

So now I’m an adult. I know I have two inhalers in the car somewhere. I know for a fact I have one in the suitcase. I know my asthma is not acting up. I know my asthma is controlled, and yet my bronchodilator anxiety still strikes. I’m now starting to feel a mild shortness of breath. Or am I? Maybe it’s all in my head.

Throughout the entire trip my inhaler filled a portion of my mind — or my entire life for that matter. If you’d pay close attention to me you’d see me occasionally swiping my palm over my pocket. I need that constant reassurance it’s there. If I don’t feel it, I have to find it. I have to know. Otherwise I’ll need it.

The weather was awesome in Florida, the kids were able to meet Mickey Mouse, swim every day, and visit with their grandparents. And, thanks to good planning, the asthma was a non issue.

Ironically even as I sit here typing this I’m wondering: Where is my inhaler? Where was I the last time I used it? I don’t need it right now, but…

I bet I’m not the only asthmatic with bronchodilator anxiety. If you’ve experienced this or something similar let us know in the comments below.