Sometimes when a person has to fight the daily battles with chronic disease, some things just don’t seem as important as others. Occasionally, patients with chronic disease are understandably focused on symptom management and improving the quality of their daily life.
Cystic fibrosis is one of those diseases that presents many challenges to a patient’s daily life.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder that primarily affects the lungs as well as the kidneys, pancreas, and intestines. CF causes difficulty breathing and frequent cough with large amounts of mucous. Those individuals with CF suffer from frequent, often serious lung infections.
The lung infections experienced with CF are treated by antibiotics. These medications are given by mouth, intravenous administration, and inhalation via nebulizer. The nebulizer is also used to deliver medications to clear the airway of mucous and assist in breathing.
A patient’s nebulizer is a vital tool in the management of CF and limiting lung damage.
Though essential, the use and maintenance of the nebulizer machine can be very time-consuming. With this being said, nebulizer machine maintenance is as important as the therapy it provides.
In the internet article “The importance of the mundane-Nebuliser care and hygiene,” it is outlined that the proper care and disinfection of an individual’s nebulizer can limit exposure to harmful bacteria and fungi. Consequently, this can decrease the number of harmful lung infections one with CF experiences.
The article describes the most common organisms that can reside in an improperly or ineffectively disinfected nebulizer machine. The need for this increase in awareness is made clear by the article’s author. Within the article are descriptions of cleaning techniques and even a link to an easily followed video instruction for proper cleaning!
It is apparent that there is a need for education and motivation of CF patients to take this necessary step in preventing this hidden threat.
