NursingWritten assignmentRespiratory disorders

Advanced pathophysiology of asthma: paper and two mind maps

A two to three page graduate pathophysiology paper distinguishing chronic asthma from acute exacerbation, explaining the arterial blood gas changes during an attack, applying a chosen patient factor to diagnosis and treatment, and building two supporting mind maps.

Aug 7, 2026Updated Aug 10, 2026

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 7, 2026

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

On this page

Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

The blood gas clause that carries the paper

One clause in the first bullet carries more marks than its length suggests: *be sure to explain the changes in the arterial blood gas patterns during an exacerbation*. The expected answer is a sequence, not a snapshot. Early in an attack the patient hyperventilates, so carbon dioxide falls and pH rises — a respiratory alkalosis with hypoxaemia. As the attack continues and airflow obstruction worsens, carbon dioxide climbs back toward normal, and a normal reading in a patient who is still visibly struggling is not reassurance but a warning that ventilation is failing. Later still, carbon dioxide rises above normal and the picture becomes a respiratory acidosis in a tiring patient. Writing that arc, and saying explicitly why the middle stage is the dangerous one, is the single most discriminating paragraph in the paper. Most submissions give one blood gas value and move on.

Chronic asthma and acute exacerbation are two different pathologies, and the brief asks you to say how they are similar *and* different. Chronic disease is structural: persistent eosinophilic inflammation, thickening of the subepithelial basement membrane, smooth muscle hypertrophy and mucus gland hyperplasia, together producing airway remodelling that only partly reverses with treatment. An exacerbation is acute and largely functional: bronchospasm, mucosal oedema and mucus plugging narrowing the lumen within minutes to hours, air trapping behind the obstruction, and dynamic hyperinflation that flattens the diaphragm and drives up the work of breathing. Papers that describe asthma once and then add a paragraph saying attacks are worse have covered half the bullet. Set them side by side and the similarities — the shared inflammatory substrate, the same trigger sensitivity — become an argument instead of a filler sentence.

The mind maps are a second deliverable and they are where marks are most often left behind. The brief names five things each map must carry: epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and the diagnosis and treatment you explained in your paper. That last phrase matters — the maps must agree with the paper rather than being drawn from a general asthma source, and a marker comparing them will notice if the treatment on the map is not the treatment you argued for. Build them after the paper is written, not before, and make them genuinely two maps: a chronic map organised around control and remodelling, an exacerbation map organised around severity and escalation. Two nearly identical diagrams tell the marker you found one difference and stopped looking. Label each node with the element it satisfies so a marker can confirm all five are present without decoding the layout.

There is a constraint tucked into the preparation list that has nothing to do with asthma: *select a patient factor different from the one you selected in this week's Discussion*. It is a hard requirement, it is checkable against your own posted work, and it is easy to breach if you drafted the paper first. Choose deliberately, because the factors do not all behave the same way here. Age gives you the clearest split, since paediatric asthma differs from adult asthma in presentation, diagnosis and drug dosing. Behaviour gives you trigger exposure and adherence, both of which change treatment. Genetics gives you atopy and family history but less to say about prescribing. Whichever you take, the brief asks you to carry it through diagnosis and treatment, not just pathophysiology. Record which factor you used in the discussion before you start, because reconstructing it from memory a week later is how the constraint gets breached.

Two to three pages is tight for four requirements, so decide the shape before writing. The paper has to cover the two mechanisms, the blood gas arc, the patient factor applied to both disorders, and then diagnosis and prescribing for a patient with that factor. That is roughly half a page each, which means no room for an introduction that restates what asthma is. Open on the difference between chronic disease and acute attack, since that framing is what the whole paper turns on, and let the mind maps carry the descriptive material — epidemiology and clinical presentation belong there, and moving them out of the prose buys you the space the blood gas paragraph needs. Cite as you go, because the readings for this week are chapter-specific and the marker knows which ones.

What the brief asks	The version that under-performs	What the mark is for
Pathophysiological mechanisms of both	One description of asthma, plus 'attacks are worse'	Remodelling versus bronchospasm, set side by side
Arterial blood gas changes	A single value showing hypoxaemia	Alkalosis, then pseudo-normal CO2, then acidosis
Impact of the patient factor	A paragraph on prevalence	The factor carried through diagnosis and prescribing
Diagnose and prescribe	General asthma treatment	Treatment adjusted for the factor you chose
Two mind maps	One diagram redrawn twice	Two structures, matching the paper's own argument

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

01
Separate the structural pathology of chronic asthma from the functional pathology of an attack.
02
Interpret arterial blood gases as a sequence across the course of an exacerbation.
03
Carry a single patient factor through pathophysiology, diagnosis and prescribing.
04
Represent a clinical argument in a diagram that agrees with the prose.

Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Asthma Complications of asthma can be sudden. Consider the case of Bradley Wilson, a young boy who had several medical conditions. He appeared in good health when he went to school, returned home, and ate dinner. However, when he later went outside to play, he came back inside wheezing. An ambulance took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead (Briscoe, 2012). In another case, 10-year-old Dynasty Reese, who had mild asthma, woke up in the middle of the night and ran to her grandfather’s bedroom to tell him she couldn’t breathe. By the time paramedics arrived, she had passed out and was pronounced dead at the hospital (Glissman, 2012). These situations continue to outline the importance of recognizing symptoms of asthma and providing immediate treatment, as well as distinguishing minor symptoms from serious, life-threatening symptoms. Since these symptoms and attacks are often induced by a trigger, as an advanced practice nurse, you must be able to help patients identify their triggers and recommend appropriate treatment options. For this reason, you need to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation. To Prepare · Review “Asthma” in Chapter 27 of the Huether and McCance text. Identify the pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation. Consider how these disorders are similar and different. · Select a patient factor different from the one you selected in this week’s Discussion: genetics, gender, ethnicity, age, or behavior. Think about how the factor you selected might impact the pathophysiology of both disorders. Reflect on how you would diagnose and prescribe treatment of these disorders for a patient based on the factor you selected. · Review the “Mind maps—Dementia, Endocarditis, and Gastro-oesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)” media in the Week 2 Learning Resources. Use the examples in the media as a guide to construct two mind maps—one for chronic asthma and one for acute asthma exacerbation. Consider the epidemiology and clinical presentation of both chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation. To Complete Write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following: · Describe the pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation. Be sure to explain the changes in the arterial blood gas patterns during an exacerbation. · Explain how the factor you selected might impact the pathophysiology of both disorders. Describe how you would diagnose and prescribe treatment for a patient based on the factor you selected. · Construct two mind maps—one for chronic asthma and one for acute asthma exacerbation. Include the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical presentation, as well as the diagnosis and treatment you explained in your paper. Advanced Pathophysiology of Asthma Learning Resources Required Readings Huether, S. E., & McCance, K. L. (2017). Understanding pathophysiology (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby. Chapter 26, “Structure and Function of the Pulmonary System” This chapter provides information relating to the structure and function of the pulmonary system to illustrate normal pulmonary function. It focuses on gas transport to build the foundation for examining alterations of pulmonary function. Chapter 27, “Alterations of Pulmonary Function” This chapter examines clinical manifestations of pulmonary alterations and disorders of the chest wall and pleura. It covers the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, evaluation, and treatment of obstructive lung diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. Chapter 28, “Alterations of Pulmonary Function in Children” This chapter focuses on alterations of pulmonary function that affect children. These alterations include disorders of the upper and lower airways. Hammer, G. G. , & McPhee, S. (2014). Pathophysiology of disease: An introduction to clinical medicine. (7th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. Chapter 9, “Pulmonary Disease” This chapter begins with an overview of normal structure and function of the lungs to provide a foundation for examining various lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Required Media Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012e). Mid-course review. Baltimore, MD: Author. This media is an interactive mid-course review covering course content. Optional Resources American Lung Association. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.lung.org/ Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.aafa.org Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.cff.org/

The paper and the two mind maps in full

01
A 2 to 3 page paper.
02
The pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic asthma.
03
The pathophysiological mechanisms of acute asthma exacerbation.
04
An explanation of the arterial blood gas changes during an exacerbation.
05
How the chosen patient factor impacts the pathophysiology of both disorders.
06
How you would diagnose and prescribe treatment for a patient based on that factor.
07
A mind map for chronic asthma, and a second for acute exacerbation.
08
Epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and treatment on each map.

From remodelling to prescribing, in three pages

Open on the distinction, not the definition

Frame the paper as chronic structural disease against acute functional obstruction.

Chronic asthma as remodelling

Persistent inflammation, basement membrane thickening, smooth muscle hypertrophy, mucus gland hyperplasia.

The exacerbation as obstruction

Bronchospasm, oedema and plugging; air trapping, hyperinflation and rising work of breathing.

The blood gases across the attack

Hypoxaemia with respiratory alkalosis, then a normalising carbon dioxide, then acidosis.

The patient factor, through to prescribing

How the chosen factor changes both pathologies, then diagnosis, then drug choice and dosing.

Two mind maps that match the paper

One organised around control and remodelling, one around severity and escalation.

Which asthma guidance to write the treatment from

Recommended databases

NHLBI asthma guidelines and health topics
Global Initiative for Asthma reports
PubMed and PMC
The assigned pathophysiology texts

Search sequence

1.
Read a current management guideline before drafting, because the treatment section has to be defensible and the drug classes have moved in recent updates.
2.
Look up the exacerbation severity assessment specifically, since that is where the blood gas interpretation is described in clinical terms.
3.
Find evidence for the factor you chose rather than asserting its effect, especially if it is ethnicity or gender.
4.
Check paediatric versus adult differences if you chose age, because diagnosis and dosing both change and the brief asks about both.

Federal guidelines, the GINA strategy and the basics

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

01
Asthma
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health · 2024
A concise account of airway inflammation, hyperresponsiveness and obstruction, with the clinical presentation and diagnostic testing that the mind maps need. Useful for the epidemiology element, which belongs on the maps rather than in a two-page paper.
02
2020 Focused Updates to the Asthma Management Guidelines
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health · 2020
The current federal recommendations across six topic areas, including intermittent inhaled corticosteroids and the role of long-acting muscarinic antagonists. This is the source that makes your prescribing section current rather than textbook, which matters because the assigned text predates these updates.
03
Reports
Global Initiative for Asthma · 2025
The international strategy report, which sets out exacerbation severity assessment and the stepwise treatment tracks. Use it alongside the federal guideline when your patient factor changes the treatment step, since it states explicitly what a change in severity should do to the regimen.
04
Asthma
MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine · 2024
A gateway to trigger, diagnosis and management material at a level suitable for checking the clinical presentation you put on the mind maps. Its value here is breadth rather than depth: it will surface the presentation details that a mechanism-focused source assumes you already know.

Before the paper and maps are submitted

Common mistakes

Giving one arterial blood gas result rather than the sequence across the attack.
Missing that a normalising carbon dioxide in a struggling patient is a deterioration sign.
Describing asthma once and treating the exacerbation as a more severe version of it.
Reusing the patient factor already used in the week's discussion, which the brief forbids.
Applying the factor to pathophysiology only and dropping it before diagnosis and treatment.
Drawing two mind maps that differ only in their title.
Building the maps from a general source so they disagree with the paper's own treatment plan.
Spending half a page introducing what asthma is when only two to three pages are available.

Submission checklist

Both mechanisms are described, with similarities and differences stated.
The blood gas explanation runs alkalosis, pseudo-normal, acidosis.
The chosen factor differs from the one used in the discussion.
The factor appears in the diagnosis and prescribing sections, not only the pathophysiology.
Two distinct mind maps exist, structured differently from each other.
Each map carries all five required elements.
The maps' diagnosis and treatment match the paper's.
The paper is within two to three pages.

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