Asthma / COPD Wellness Program
Asthma is a common disease affecting an estimated 10 million people in the United States. With Asthma the airways are inflamed or swollen. The result is a narrowing of the airways causing difficulty breathing. These airways are quite sensitive to certain substances or conditions. Some of these "triggers" include pollens, animal dander, smoke, low humidity, cold or night air, and upper respiratory infections.
Asthma does not have to run your life. While it should always be taken seriously, asthma is a highly treatable condition when properly managed.
COPD is the 4th leading cause of death in the US in people aged 65
to 84 years. COPD is a collective term to describe emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Emphysema is a progressive disease that develops after years of smoke pollution
exposure, while chronic bronchitis is inflammation and eventual scarring of
the lining of your lungs.
The purpose of our Breathe Easy Clinic is to assist the patient in the management of their disease. While working with the patient and his/her physician, our goals will be to decrease the number of emergency room visits and increase the patients quality of life.
The Goals of the Clinic:
- Maintain near "normal" pulmonary function rates.
- Maintain normal activity levels including exercise.
- Prevent symptoms of asthma.
- Prevent recurrent exacerbations of asthma.
- Avoid effects from medications.
- Educating patients concerning proper medication administration and dosing.
- Assessing and monitoring disease severity using both subjective and objective data. This data will be maintained in the patients record both in the pharmacy and physician's office.
- Developing a management plan for the patient in order to prevent disease precipitating factors.
- Developing an individualized treatment plan which will be based on the National Institute of Health recommendations. Each patient will be managed individually using the clinical knowledge and skills of the pharmacist, while following the basic guidelines of the therapeutic protocol.
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