Qu.1 This patient is in respiratory acidosis because of his emphysema. The patient needs oxygen therapy to counteract his low pO2 level, and IV bicarbonate to restore the buffering capacity of the blood and raise the blood pH (Applegate, 2000, 390). The patient should be placed on a sound, nutritious diet, with vitamin supplements, particularly vitamin A, and antioxidants. Pulmozyme may be prescribed to help break up the mucus in the lungs. If possible, he should get regular exercise. The patient should be assessed to see if he is a candidate for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute FORTE (Feasibility of Retinoid Therapy for Emphysema) study, which employs an experimental drug, ATRA (13 cis-retinoic acid) (Emphysema, 2004). This is a vitamin A derivative which has proven useful against emphysema in animals and is now being tested in humans. He may also be a candidate for lung reduction surgery if he has extensive lung damage, and this would be carried out under the National Emphysema Treatment Trial.
The patient should definitely not smoke, and should avoid all sources of second-hand smoke (Emphysema, 2004). He should also try to avoid air pollutants, aerosol sprays, herbicides, pesticides, exhaust fumes and fumes from fuel, and household dust.
Qu.2 Four symptoms that indicate that a patient has a partial airway obstruction if choking on food occurs while being fed by a nurse are:
1) wheezing, crowing, whistling or other unusual breathing noises indicating breathing difficulty
3) cyanosis (bluish discoloration of skin caused by lack of oxygen)
Qu.3 Tuberculosis is caused by a group of five closely related species of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex: M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. africanum, M. microti and M. canetti (Tomford and Ioachimescu, 2004). M. tuberculosis is responsible for the vast majority of cases of tuberculosis in the United States. The main characteristic which defines thes...