Chronic Illness and Disability PDF

Running head:CHRONIC ILLNESS AND DISABILITY
Chronic Illness and Disability
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

CHRONIC ILLNESS AND DISABILITY1
Introduction
Nurses are required to look over patient symptoms and come up with an appropriate
care plan for the patient via the clinical reasoning cycle (Utas.edu.au., 2020). For this, the
nurse must collect information, assess the symptoms and plan accordingly. The purpose of
this essay is to present a case study of an elderly woman with asthma. The nurse must collect
data regarding her symptoms and ailments, and come up with a personalized care plan for
her. This will ensure that she gets the best care possible in order to stay healthy.
Background
According to the clinical reasoning cycle (Utas.edu.au., 2020), the initial job of the
nurse is describe the context of the case study, review the current information and gather
more information. The patient is a 50-year-old lady named Mrs Lin who is suffering from
chronic CVA, also known as cough variant asthma. A personal interview was conducted with
her in order to make a list of the symptoms. The symptoms that is apparent in her is severe
coughing throughout the day. She also has difficulty breathing sometimes, especially in the
night time during sleeping. No medical history of hers is known. In terms of medication, she
has been prescribed Ventolin, which she has been taking 2 huffs a day. She has reported to
have no family history of asthma. She currently has a very healthy routine of eating and
drinking. She reported to have been sleeping well but she requires three pillows under her
head to keep the head elevated.
It is important to gather more information about her symptoms and overall health in
accordance to the clinical reasoning cycle (Utas.edu.au., 2020). For example, the SN must
gather more information regarding her past medical history and conduct the required tests on
her to confirm her condition.

CHRONIC ILLNESS AND DISABILITY2
It is possible that her asthma may have been caused by the intense pollution in her
locality as well as the season changes and cold weather. The patient has reported of cold air
in her locality. It has been observed that coughing stimulated by colder air as well as talking
can be a sign of CVA (Kanemitsu et al., 2016). The season change in the patient’s area may
also be a possible trigger for her asthma symptoms (Zhang et al., 2016). It is also possible
that due to recent wildfires, the increase in particulate matter in the air may have had an
adverse effect on her asthma (Haikerwal et al., 2016). The cough response in CVA is rather
heightened rather than that in bronchial asthma. It is the precursor of asthma and hence
precautions should be taken to not let it progress further (Fujimura, 2014).
Discussion
Cough variant asthma often pose no other symptoms except the classic non-
productive cough. It usually does not have other symptoms of asthma like shortness of breath
or wheezing. However in this case, the patient does have some difficulty breathing, so it is
possible that the CVA is progressing. It has often been found that the main cause of CVA is
from environmental factors (Lipińska-Ojrzanowska, Wiszniewska & Walusiak-Skorupa,
2015). As per the interview, the patient reported that she was eating and sleeping really well
hence in that regard, she was quite healthy. She also reported to have no other symptom
except difficulty in breathing sometimes. This might cause a disruption in her daily life if it is
not taken care of. The patient reported that she needs three pillows to elevate her head while
she sleeps. It has been seen that the head of asthma patients are often elevated by nurses as a
therapy to provide comfort. So it is not out of ordinary that she might feel more comfortable
that way (Yeon, Yoo, Lee, Park & Kim, 2014). These are not major inconveniences, however
still may be considered small disruptions. It has been seen that CVA patients often face more
anxiety and depression than those with bronchial asthma. This is because while traditional
severe asthma is fully controlled by medications, CVA is just the precursor of asthma. The