Breathing Difficulty
Asthma/COPD/RAD
- Albuterol (Proventil) 0.5 ml in 2.5 ml NS via HHN. May repeat every 5 min to a total of 4 treatments
- For first treatment may add ipratropium bromide or use Duoneb
- Consider CPAP if available
- Consider levalbuterol (Xopenex) 1.25 mg via nebulizer
- Consider 60 mg Prednisone PO or Solumedrol 125mg IV
- For patients who do not respond to nebulizer tx or for impending respiratory failure, consider:
- Epinephrine (1:1,000) 0.3 mg (0.3 ml) SQ or IM; contact Medical Command if there are cardiac risk factors
- Magnesium Sulfate 2g in 100 ml 0.9% NaCl IV over 10 minutes