Christina Rafano explains pneumothorax as a hole in the pleural space that collapses the lung. The video covers three types: open pneumothorax from external wounds, closed pneumothorax from lung injury, and tension pneumothorax, where trapped air pressurizes the heart and lungs, making it a medical emergency.
What is up? My friend Christina here with nursingschoolofsuccess.com and today's video is going to help you finally understand exactly what is pneumothorax. I know it's a big, scary word, and I know that I had a hard time remembering exactly what it was during nursing school. So I'm gonna break it all down for you here today and make sure that you subscribe to this channel and hit that little bell icon to get notified when we post a new video. I've got a ton awesome videos coming for you in the future that you don't want to miss. Now, let's dive into pneumothorax pathophysiology. All right, so a pneumothorax means that there is a hole in the pleural space surrounding the lungs, and this causes the lung to collapse. So let's take a look at this. There is a thin skin space surrounding the lungs. This is called the pleural space. And this pleural space separates the lungs from the chest wall, and it helps you to breathe smoothly and pretty effortlessly. Now, a pneumothorax occurs when air actually gets inside that pleural space from a hole. And when air gets inside that pleural space, it creates a pressure difference that causes the lung to collapse. Only one lung, not two, just one. Now, the two types of pneumothorax that we'll talk about are an open pneumothorax and a closed pneumothorax. So let's talk about those. An open pneumothorax occurs when there is an outside wound, like a puncture or something, that causes an opening into the pleural space from the outside of the body. So air is leaking from the outside of the body into the pleural space. That is an open pneumothorax. This is different than a closed pneumothorax. For a closed pneumothorax, there is no open wound to the outside of the body. This is where there is a hole in the lung, and air is actually leaking from the lung into the pleural space. Now, the key thing to note about a pneumothorax is that air can move in and out from that pleural space. This is very different than in a tension pneumothorax, where air cannot escape that pleural space. It just gets trapped inside and puts so much pressure on the heart, the lungs, and the blood vessels. It's really important that you know this difference because a tension pneumothorax is a medical emergency and it really needs to be treated immediately. Because of all that pressure inside the chest cavity that that tension pneumothorax puts on it. It's a medical emergency. Now a pneumothorax can be caused by things like injury, trauma, rib fluid fracture, or medical procedures like mechanical ventilation or underlying medical conditions like asthma or copd. Now, if you want a deeper dive into the signs and symptoms of a pneumothorax, the nursing assessment that you might do, and the nursing interventions that you might do for a pneumothorax, you will definitely want to check out the Nursing SOS Membership Community where I've got all those videos in there for you. I'll walk you through all of those things. So definitely check that out if you're interested. And if you think that would be helpful for you, I will put a link down in the description below this video. So definitely check that out if you think it will help. And that is a wrap, my friend. I hope this video helped you understand pneumothorax a little bit better. And if you like this video, make sure to leave a comment below to let me know. I would love to know your thoughts. Share it with your friends if you have somebody that also might need some help. And of course make sure you subscribe and hit that little bell icon to be notified when we we post a new video. Now we've got so many other videos on this channel to help you out with nursing school, so definitely check those videos out and find the ones that will be most helpful for you. That's kind of what we do here, help you get through nursing school. That's kind of my jam. It's what we really like to do. So I hope that those videos are helpful for you. Now go become the nurse that God created only you to be. And I will see you right back here next time, friend on the Nursing School show. Take care.
