NURS3101: Emergency Management of Adult Smoke Inhalation Injuries

This presentation provides a detailed exploration of adult smoke inhalation injuries, focusing on emergency management within a nursing context. It begins with an overview of the injuries caused by inhaling harmful gases, differentiating between chemical, thermal, and systemic injuries, and highlighting the high mortality rates associated with this condition. The presentation delves into the causes and epidemiology of smoke inhalation injuries, including chemical irritation, asphyxiation, and their impact on vulnerable populations. Pathophysiology is discussed, covering upper and lower airway injuries, pulmonary damage, and systemic toxicity. Assessment methods, including observation, clinical testing, physical examinations, and blood tests, are examined, along with diagnostic tools like fiber optic bronchoscopy and computerized chest tomography. The presentation outlines nursing interventions, such as bronchodilators, intubation, and beta2-agonists, and emphasizes the importance of humidified oxygen, emotional support, and fluid resuscitation. The rationale behind each intervention is also explained, providing a thorough understanding of the management strategies. The presentation concludes by emphasizing the importance of early intervention and comprehensive care in improving patient outcomes. The presentation is a part of the NURS3101 course and provides a comprehensive understanding of the topic.

CONTROL OF
ADULT SMOKING
INHALATION
INJURY IN CRISIS
Name of the student
Name of the University
Authors note

OVERVIEW
 The demonstration emphases on-
Inhalation injuries caused due to smoking in adults.
The demonstration also shades light upon-
 Brief discussion about the injuries caused due to smoking.
 Method of detecting the injuries.
 Pathophysiology of the diseases.
 Assessment of the injury.
 Planning of nursing interventions to reduce the condition
prior and after the injury.

AIMS
 The primary objective of the presentation is to give a proper idea
about-
 the main causes of adult smoking inhalation injuries.
 Diagnoses method to detect the condition in the body that are
used by the practitioners to detect the condition.
 Nursing management and interventions to control the disease
and the harmful effects.

BACKGROUND
 Smoking inhalation injury is a clinical condition which
is developed due to breathing of harmful gases
(Shubert & Sharma, 2019).
 It can be divided into three types such as chemical
injury, thermal injury and systemic injury.
 The condition results in respiratory complications
among the population resulting in high mortality rate
among the elder population and also among teens
(Gonzalez-Gonzalez, Palloni & Wong, 2015).

CAUSES AND EPIDEMIOLOGY
 Causes-
The injury can be caused due to chemical
irritation or asphyxiation. It includes asphyxiates,
irritant compounds, chemical substances. It can also
lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
asthma, bronchitis and also heart disease
Epidemiology-
The mortality rate ranges from 50-80% all
over the world. In Australia, the death rate about
45% among the population.
(Kwan, Stratton & Bonnie, 2015).

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
 The disease can be caused by three pathways
I. Upper airways injury (Prokakis et al., 2014)
II. Lower airway injury
III. Pulmonary injury
IV. Systemic toxicity (Gupta et al., 2018)
 The damage depends upon the environment,
temperature, solubility of the gases.

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
 The respiratory damage happens due to the
concentration of gases and its solubility (Power &
Dhamoon, 2019).
 The irritant gases exposures predominantly affects
the airways causing bronchitis, bronchiolitis and
bronchitis (Singh & Avula, 2019).
 Gases like cyanide, carbon monoxide cause direct
effect by displacing the oxygen and resulting in
asphyxia.

ASSESSMENT
 The main chief assessment methods for detecting the
injury are observation and clinical testing.
 The practioners focuses upon mainly three things-
source of the inhalation, time period of inhalation of
harmful gases and time of exposure (Jones et al.,
2017).
 The health care practioners or the nurses uses
modalities like Physical examinations, fiber optic
bronchoscopy and computerized chest tomography
(Palas et al., 2014).

ASSESSMENT
 Other diagnostic process that is used for detection is
blood test (Garcia-Laorden et al., 2017).
 Pulse oximetry is also used (Jubran, 2015).
 Arterial blood gas testing is an important test for
detection of gas in the body.
 The nurses must ensure to provide a safe environment
for the patients (Cashin et al., 2017).
 The emergency assessment must include proper
observation, monitoring, planning of treatment and
advising the patient to adhere a safe environment and
lifestyle.

ASSESSMENT
 Airway, breathing, Circulation, Disability and
Exposure approach can be used to assess the
seriousness of the patient’s condition (Daniel &
Elewski, 2015).
 Managing of acute respiratory distress, acute
dyspnea and oxygen flow can be done.
 The nurse can assess the mechanism of injury in
the body of the patient.

INTERVENTIONS
The six interventions for managing and curing the
condition of the patient suffering from smoking
inhalation injury are-
 Bronchodilators- It is used in the emergency care for
relaxing the lung (Beeh, 2016)
 Intubation- it is used in the crisis to reduce the
respiratory ache in the patient (Ding et al., 2020).
 Beta2- agonists- These medicines helps in relaxation
of smooth muscle (Hsu & Bajaj, 2019).

INTERVENTIONS
 The patient can be given high flow of humidified
oxygen at 100% to maintain SpO2 (Hou et al.,
2019).
 The maintenance of patient airways, pain, reducing
complications and finally emotional support must
be provided.
 Fluid resuscitation can be given to restore the
circulatory and hemodynamic stability (Malbrain
et al., 2018).