Pharmacological Management of COPD and Viral Infections

This article discusses the pharmacological management of COPD and viral infections. It also covers the nursing management of these conditions. The article provides an overview of the medications used to treat COPD and viral infections, along with their side effects. It also discusses the nursing interventions that can be used to manage these conditions.

Running head: NURSING HARM
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Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Topic 1
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is generally an umbrella term that is used
to describe lung disease like chronic bronchitis, emphysema, refractory asthma and few forms of
bronchiestasis. The primary symptom of this disease is breathlessness. COPD can be caused due
to the long term exposure to lung irritants like obnoxious chemical fumes, industrial dust,
smoking or exposure to second hand smokes. Some inherited factors like alpha-1- antitrypsin
deficiency can also lead to COPD. Neonatal chronic lung diseases cause COPD in the later life.
Pharmacological management of COPD
The main aim of the pharmacological treatment of the chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) is to prevent or to control the symptoms or reduce the severity of the
exacerbations. No medications can actually reduce the progressive decline of the functioning of
lungs. The pharmacological intervention of COPD is mainly symptomatic and involves
bronchodilators. Bronchodilators like selective beta adrenergic agonists, anticholinergics,
theophylline or a cocktail of these drugs are mainly used in the management of diseases.
Glucocorticoids are generally not recommended for patients with mild COPD and are suitable
for severe and frequent COPD attacks. Phosphodiesterase -4 (PDE4) inhibitors can be taken to
prevent the COPD exacerbations. Other medicines may include methylxanthines, used in severe
COPD, but they might have side effects and hence are generally avoided. New pharmacological
strategies needs to be developed due to the inadequacy if the older interventions. Tobacco,
biomass ad fuel induced oxidative stress is associated with the development of COPD, hence
targeting the local and the systemic oxidative stress with the help of antioxidants or enhancing

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the endogenous level of the antioxidants in the body can have beneficial effect on COPD
(Rahman, 2012). Antioxidants like thiol molecule can modulate different aspects related to
COPD. They can scavenge and detoxify the oxidants and the free radicals. They can also
regulate the glutathione biosynthesis and stop inflammatory gene expression in relation to COPD
(Rahman, 2012).
Nursing management in COPD
Nursing management involves assessing the patient's exposure to the triggering factors,
past and the medical history, vital signs, breathing patterns and sounds. For achieving the airway
clearance nurses must apply bronchodilators and the corticosteroids (Patel et al., 2012). Nurses
should help the patient to practice muscle raining and diaphragmatic breathing in order to
improve the breathing pattern. Suctioning can be provided in case patients are unable to cough
out the secretions. Well lubricated soft catheters can reduce the irritation and prevent trauma to
the mucous membrane. As the therapeutic intervention to the impaired gas exchange it is
necessary to let the patient sit in a semi fowler position for increasing the thoracic cavity and
lung expansion (Patel et al., 2012). furthermore he nurse should monitor any cognitive changes
in the patient, monitor the pulse oximetry values and should also educate the patient regarding
interventions like smoking cessation, use of facial masks and proper usage of the inhalers and the
bronchodilators during the COPD attacks.

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Topic 2
Pharmacological Management in viral infections
viral infections are mainly caused when the viruses enters the normal living cells,
multiplies and destroys the normal living cells eventually affecting the respiratory system,
circulatory system and the nervous system. Antiviral drugs generally have a narrow spectrum of
activities and have very limited efficacies. Some of the common antivirals are Acyclovir,
valacyclovir that are useful against herpes virus. Drugs used in viral fevers are commonly
Acetaminophen,ibuprofen (De Clercq, 2013).
In most of the cases viral diseases can be prevented by vaccination. Antibody therapies
can also be used to prevent and treat the viral infections. Antiretroviral treatment is given against
HIV infections. A treatment initiates with the application of two nucleoside reverse transcriptase
inhibitors or a boosted protease inhibitors (Arts & Hazuda, 2012). Other medications include
CCR5 antagonists, fusion inhibitors. Oseltamavir and Zanamavir can be given as influenza -
neuramidase inhibitor against viral influenza.
The antiviral mainly work by inhibiting some of the stages of the virus replication cycle.
They mainly work by inactivating the extracellular virus particles, preventing the viral
attachment or the entry, preventing the attachment of the virus to the cell membranes, preventing
the replication of the viral genome, preventing the synthesis of the specific viral proteins and by
preventing the assembly of the new infectious virus (De Clercq, 2013).

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Nursing management in viral infections
Nursing management of viral infections involve observing and reporting the signs of any
infections, assessing the temperature of the neutropenic clients, as fever is the only symptom of
neutropenic patients, assessing the laboratory values, as laboratory functions help to give an
overview of the patient’s immune function of the nutritional status, assessing the lung sounds,
checking the sputum, encouraging a balanced diet for boosting up the immune system as immune
function is dependent upon protein intake, maintaining supple and moist skin to prevent
excoriations or skin inflammation of the skin (Hockenberry & Wilson, 2014). Nurse should
encourage ample intake of fluids as most of the fluids are lost during viral infections. Proper
hand washing techniques should be maintained to prevent infections. It should be noted that most
of the nursing interventions would depend upon the type of viral infection (Hockenberry &
Wilson, 2014).

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References
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De Clercq, E. (2013). Dancing with chemical formulae of antivirals: a personal account.
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Hockenberry, M. J., & Wilson, D. (2014). Wong's nursing care of infants and children-E-book.
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Patel, K., Janssen, D. J., & Curtis, J. R. (2012). Advance care planning in COPD. Respirology,
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Rahman, I. (2012). Pharmacological antioxidant strategies as therapeutic interventions for
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