Cough: Focused Assessment for Prevention and Treatment - Report Sample

Introduction

Cough is one of the most common grievances associated with outpatient clinical calls. As we know that, the cough has different signs, so opting for the prevention is always the critical aspect to consider as a patient (Spinou et al., 2017). Danny is a child complaining of a cough, which means that it has been going on for quite a while now before it became severe to the point of reporting. The purpose of the review is to conduct a complete focused assessment on Danny to determine the possible chronic diseases that may result from his cough.

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The Focus of the Assessment

The focus of the assessment is to determine the cause of coughing. Evaluation of the correlation between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and genetics is critical, especially with the individuals who may have family members who have COPD (Kurashima et al., 2016). It is possible that the coughing is a sign of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that is genetic. Since there is a direct link between an individual and the family, this then shows that there are high chances that COPD is a genetic disorder. Therefore, having more knowledge of the non-genetic and genetic COPD is very helpful for the family members as it helps them to understand their risk. For instance, AAT deficiency is a genetic condition that is not common. However, it is one of the risk factors for COPD (Kurashima et al., 2016). Experts have said that individuals who have AAT deficiency are at high risk of COPD, especially if they are smokers, even if they are at very high risk also if they are not smokers.

A Review of Systems (ROS)

Danny's data will reveal that the cough is abnormal if it is persistent, painful, and productive. The features that should be clarified on the history of the cough include duration in terms of days, weeks, or months. It will also include reviewing the course of the cough, such as whether it has been constant, worsening, or intermittent as well as the triggers such as irritants or allergens. Danny will also describe whether the cough is dry or productive in terms of the color and volume of the sputum. The medical practitioner, on the day of the examination, should listen to the type of cough and look for signs such as distress, fever, sweating, and respiratory cases of dullness, wheezing, and hyperinflation.

Psychiatric Mental Health (PMH)

In the United States, at least 8% to 10% of the population suffers from frequent and persistent coughing (Spinou et al., 2017). Chronic coughs include being characterized by inflammation of airways chronically. Persistent cough becomes a disorder that is prevalent in children. At least 80% of asthma patients have an allergy. Asthma that affects children of young age is closely related to atopy. Some factors can worsen the condition of asthma. They include sleep apnea, GERD, stress, untreated sinusitis, and sensitivity to aspirin, among others.

Techniques of Examination

The physical examination for the cough will include a careful history and thorough assessment of the patient. After being referred to a clinic, Danny will undergo a normal chest X-ray as well as a review of a recent radiograph. Findings from the clinical investigations will show the presence of a particular condition. If it is the case for acute bronchitis, Danny will reveal the frequent characterization by signs of acute onset of cough, a low-stage wheeze, fever, coarse rales, and rhonchi might be present. Furthermore, bronchitis mostly starts with the symptoms of a runny nose, fatigue, sore throat, common cold, aches at the back and muscles, and chilliness accompanied by slight fever may seem to appear, specifically if the infection is as a result of influenza.

Documented Evidence to Support Clinical Reasoning

Most of the children are taken to doctors because of chronic coughing. Records have shown that 5% to 10% of the total population of US children are affected by chronic coughing annually (Morice et al., 2020). If an acute cough is due to the respiratory virus or cold, it is expected to go away after a few months. However, if the coughing becomes longer and persistent, it shows that there is something serious that is behind the chronic coughing. For a cough to be termed as chronic, it must occur daily for more than four weeks, and at this point, it is supposed to be checked by the doctor. However, the good thing is that pediatricians are in a position of dealing with the common causes of coughing. If a cough does not go away after treatments, then the child should be referred to the specialist for further checkup.C

Conclusion

In conclusion, coughs become abnormal if they are persistent and painful. Coughing may be a sign of other chronic diseases that will be determined by laboratory investigations. A medical practitioner should be keen to include a careful history of Danny and perform a thorough physical examination to evaluate the patient and recommend necessary treatment.

References

Kurashima, K., Takaku, Y., Ohta, C., Takayanagi, N., Yanagisawa, T., & Sugita, Y. (2016). COPD assessment test and severity of airflow limitation in patients with asthma, COPD, and asthma–COPD overlap syndrome. International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 11, 479.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4786066/

Morice, A. H., Millqvist, E., Bieksiene, K., Birring, S. S., Dicpinigaitis, P., Ribas, C. D., ... & Rigau, D. (2020). ERS guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of chronic cough in adults and children. European Respiratory Journal, 55(1). https://source.ymvkt.cn/31515408.pdf

Spinou, A., Lee, K. K., Sinha, A., Elston, C., Loebinger, M. R., Wilson, R., ... & Garrod, R. (2017). The objective assessment of cough frequency in bronchiectasis. Lung, 195(5), 575-585. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00408-017-0038-x.