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Saturday, January 23, 2010

Dear Doctors: Albuterol is not an expectorant

I dare you to post this on your bulleton board!!!


Note to doctors:

I just want you to know that Albuterol is a bronchodilator and not an expectorant. It will not help a patient who is breathing normal produce a gob of sputum and cough it up.

If you order for me to do a treatment for a sputum induction, and I go into the room and the patient has good lung sounds and is breathing normal, all I'm going to do is give the breathing treatment and hand the patient a sputum cup.

In fact, in the past when your brethren have asked me to give a treatment for a sputum I have been known to say, "I'll give him a cup."

I have no idea where you guys got the idea that Albuterol is an expectorant or a cough inducer (
well actually I do), but you are wrong. It does not produce sputum. Normal healthy lungs are not going to produce sputum even with a bronchodilator.

Nuff said. Thanks for listening. I hope you hear me too.

Sincerely, your humble respiratory therapist

I dare you!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I have a son with a very dry cough. The doctor gave hm salbutamol and prometazine. Antibiotic, yes. 3 days and still and still dry. Hard to breath while he cough. Can i give hm expectorant? Pls help. He has a fever now