Understanding the Use of Asthma Inhaler

Use of Asthma Inhaler
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Use of Asthma Inhaler
Asthma is an inflammatory disease that affects the lungs. According to Bookwalter (2020), more than 5.5 million American children suffer from asthma. Asthma, being a long-term condition, requires effective self-management using medication and other strategies. However, school-aged children might have a challenge with self-management of asthma. Specifically, they have poor inhaler techniques when compared to adults (Bookwalter, 2020). School nurses have a responsibility to provide asthma self-management education to school-aged children that matches their developmental needs. Therefore, it is important to understand self-assessment and inhaler use abilities among children in preschool to grade 12. While some children may be unable to self-assess, they may be able to carry and use an inhaler independently. However, as Volerman et al. (2019) reveals, only approximately 38% of school-aged children can carry and use inhalers independently. This paper analyzes self-assessment and independent inhaler use among school-aged children based on developmental basics of their age.
Self-Assessment
Self-assessment of asthma is important as it helps the patient seek help and manage their condition appropriately. It can help reduce hospitalization because patients will seek help early enough before the condition worsens. However, self-assessment among preschoolers can be quite challenging due to their stage of development. According to Balasundaram and Avulakunta (2021), preschoolers are in the early childhood development stage, covering years three to five. At this stage, they are learning how to be independent but are not yet independent and still require assistance doing some basic activities like dressing. Preschoolers cannot identify the need for an asthma inhaler because they cannot read, answer self-assessment questions, and record the results on their own (McClure et al., 2018). They can also not identify their symptoms and know what is happening to them. Hence they would not know that they need an asthma inhaler when having an attack.
The childhood stage comprises early and middle childhood (Balasundaram & Avulakunta, 2021). Early childhood is from three to five years, as discussed above, while middle childhood comprises children aged six to 11 years. These are children in grades 4, 5, and 6. Children at this stage are more self-aware and cognizant of want happens to and around them. As Searle et al. (2017) reveals, children start recognizing their symptoms as early as when they are six years old and can tell when they are about to get an asthma attack. Thus, they are capable of identifying the need for an inhaler when the symptoms kick in. At this stage, they are also ready for health literacy, and as such, they can be taught early enough how to self-manage their condition.
The next developmental stage for school-aged children is the adolescence stage. This stage comprises children aged 12-18 years. They are also normally called teenagers and include children in grades 7 to 12. Adolescents accept and understand the need for asthma inhalers. However, their adherence to inhalers is limited due to factors such as forgetfulness or embarrassment from having to use the inhalers in front of their peers (Holley et al., 2018). This can be attributed to the fact that children value their peers more at this stage as they try to become more independent from their parents. As such, it matters how their peers perceive them, especially concerning health issues. Also, despite identifying the need for an asthma inhaler, most adolescents take risks that threaten their health. For instance, they may smoke and take other risks that exacerbate their asthma symptoms and fail to carry their inhalers with them (Holley et al., 2018). Children are more risk-taking at this stage of development as they try to establish their self-identity (Balasundaram & Avulakunta, 2021). They do not fail to do certain things because they lack understanding of the consequences but because they want to test the limits.
Ability to Use Inhaler Independently
The ability to use inhalers independently increases with age. However, due to their developmental stage, preschoolers cannot use inhalers properly independently. For instance, they cannot use an MDI without a mask since they might not be able or understand how to close their mouth while inhaling the drug (Bookwalter, 2020). This means that the drug delivery would be ineffective without a mask or mouthpiece among preschoolers. School nurses can teach these kids how to use inhalers effectively. Bookwalter (2020) recommends giving preschoolers a stuffed animal and asking them to use the inhaler with the stuffed animal. Such practice will allow the child to learn over time.
Also, children in preschool and grades 1, 2, and 3 are still in early childhood/middle childhood. Even though children in this stage, which includes all ages below eight years, learn how to be independent and develop self-help skills, they are still limited in their ability to use ...