Respiratory care - Hospital Flashcards
Roles of respiratory hospital pharmacist
- Medicine optimisation eg. Inhaler technique evaluation
- Ward referrals for complex patients
- Monitor high risk patients
- patient telephone support clinic
- Clinical audits
Drug interactions in asthma/COPD
- Patients already on oral theophylline - careful with aminophylline infusions
- These are drugs that lower potassium (hypokalaemia)
[aminophylline is used to prevent wheezing/shortness of breath]
Drug-disease interactions in asthma/COPD
- These are diseases that may be effected by drugs used for COPD
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease (watch potassium)
- Hypertension
- Glaucoma (optic nerve connected to the brain is damaged)
- Liver disease
Symptoms of acute severe asthma
- Severe breathlessness
- Tachypnoea
- Tachycardia
- Silent chest
- Cyanosis
- Accessory muscle use
- Altered consciousness
- Decreased O2 saturations
Name the levels of severity in asthma
- Chronic: long term
- Severe acute: increasingly worsening
Name five treatments if severe acute asthma symptoms
- SABA e.g. Salbutamol - B2 agonist bronchodilator
- Steroids such as prednisolone
- Ipratropium bromide - this relaxes muscle and SABA relaxes bronch, so both occur
- Magnesium sulphate - also a bronchodilator
- Aminophylline - only given under supervision from senior staff. IV form, if other treatments don’t work
If the first one doesn’t work then add the second one and so on
What is a b2 agonist drug?
- Agonists mimim natural action , causing activation
- Beta-2-agonists act directly on beta-2-receptors
- This causes smooth muscle relaxation and dilated airways
Salbutamol as a treatment for severe acute asthma?
- Its a b2 agonist drug so a bronchodilator
- Can use a nebuliser
- Works quickly in higher doses
- Can be given as IV
Steroids as treatment for severe acute asthma?
- Prednisolone 40-50mg for at least five days
- Reduce mortality, relapses, subsequent hospital admission and requirement for β2agonist therapy
- Earlier given the better
Ipratropium bromide treatment for severe acute asthma?
- Greater bronchodilation than a β2agonist alone
- leading to a faster recovery and shorter duration of
admission - 500 micrograms every 4-6 hours (usually QDS)
Magnesium sulphate for treatment of severe acute asthma?
- Bronchodilator when given IV or nebulised (only IV
currently recommended) - 1.2-2g IV infusion over 20 minutes
What is a nebuliser?
Converts a solution of a drug into a fine spray
Oxygen, compressed air or ultrasonic power is
used to break up the liquid drug
Delivered through a face mask
When are nebulisers used?
- Severe asthma attacks when a patient is fatigue or out of breath
- Young children or elderly with cognitive or physical disabilities
Aminophylline for treatment of severe acute asthma?
- For patients with near fatal asthma or with poor response to initial treatment
- IV form typically
- Check plasma levels before aminophylline
Treatment for chronic asthma? The stepwise plan according to BTS/SIGN
- Provide a personalised asthma actions plan PAAP
- Start with SABA e.g. salbutamol
- Then add ICS if required e.g.
- Then ADD long actinig b2 agonists LABA as well as ICS and SABA
- Then increase the dose of ICS and add LTRA
- For chronic asthma usually specialist therapy
- annotate