A Clinical Audit of Patients Suffering from an Acute Attack of Asthma Attending Emergency Department at Al-Nafees Medical College and Hospital Islamabad

Abstract

Asthma has been considered historically a major chronic illness faced by human beings with recurrent attacks of breathlessness and expiratory wheezes especially in children and an old ages. Objective: To determine the pattern of patients suffering from an acute attack of asthma and being managed by the emergency departments. Methods: A prospective study conducted at Al-Nafees Medical College and hospital in emergency department on patients suffering from an acute attack of Asthma from May 2022 to September 2022. 300 patients were selected through convenience sampling and followed for three steps management. Results: On arrival 250 patients received PEFR with 162 measured before bronchodilation, 285 had oxygen saturation greater than 92%, 264 were assessed for SaO2 on room air, 255 responded well with a SaO2 overcrossing 92%. PEFR was measured after nebulization in 168 patients while both pre and post PEFR assessment was done in 27 .3 % patients Seventy eight received β2agonists by nebulizer. Intravenous theophylline was given to 52 patients, while corticosteroids were given to 44 patients as an initial treatment, 35 patients received IV fluids as a 1st line of management for an acute attack. Mechanical ventilation was used in 2 cases only. Supplemental oxygen was given to 14 without SpO2 while with SpO2 in 12 cases. Antibiotics were used in 16 cases and mucolytic in 6 only. IV corticosteroids were given in 14 cases and anxiolytics in only 4 cases. Conclusions: Overall emergency services at Al-Nafees medical college and hospital for patients’ management with acute asthmatic attack were satisfactory.