Pancreatitis: Digestive Disorder and Its Effect on Digestion System

Pancreatitis is a digestive disorder or disease which affects the pancreas making it inflamed (Hart, Zen, Chari, 2015). Pancreases damage occurs when some of the enzymes of the digestive system are activated before being released in the small intestines where they are supposed to be used in the digestion process. These digestive enzymes start attacking the pancreas inflaming it (Rosendahl, 2019). There are two common types of pancreatitis which are acute and chronic pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis occurs as a sudden inflammation which does not last for long, and its effects are not very severe (Nesvaderani, Eslick, Cox, 2015). After getting appropriate treatment for acute pancreatitis, most of the people suffering from acute pancreatitis recover completely. Chronic pancreatitis lasts for long periods and normally occur after being affected by acute pancreatitis. Its effects on the health of the patient are more severe than those of acute pancreatitis, and so, if not given the required medical attention, it can be very detrimental (Majumder Chari, 2016). This paper aims to discuss pancreatitis and some of the main health issues associated with this digestive disorder. This discussion will enhance our knowledge about pancreatitis and teach us some of the strategies or methods we can apply to reduce our chances of getting pancreatitis which is a very serious disorder (disease) of the digestive system.

There are many factors surrounding gastrointestinal health that need to be considered in the nursing assessment of pancreatitis. Some of these factors include the kind of foods and drinks which people take which may have different chemicals which can alter the normal functioning of the digestive enzymes and some diseases or health disorders which affect the digestive system (Assis Freedman, 2016). These factors are very important, and the nurses need to give them the required attention when assessing the patients with pancreatitis for them to offer the best and the most effective medical interventions which will be of great medical benefits to these patients (Bond‐Smith et al., 2016).

There are some dietary and gastrointestinal considerations which the nurses need to address when educating the patients with pancreatitis. Firstly, the nurses need to educate and advise the patients on some of the unhealthy nutritional behaviours which they should avoid for the sake of their gastrointestinal systems (Evans, Norman, Webb, 2017). The patients should avoid taking some foods such as red meat, full-fat dairy, fried potatoes and chips, mayonnaise, margarine, butter, among other foods which are known to cause some harm to the gastrointestinal systems if taken in excess. There are also some drinks such as alcohol and caffeine-rich drinks which also if taken in excess can harm the gastrointestinal health. The nurses should always consider all these dietary and gastrointestinal health issues which can increase the risks of getting pancreatitis if not given the appropriate medical considerations. To the patients, they should avoid taking the mentioned foods and drinks which increases their chances of getting pancreatitis disease which can cause serious trouble to their entire digestive system (Avila, Park, Golden, 2019). Instead, they should be taking balanced and healthy diets which can help to improve their digestive system and more so help to enhance the functioning of their pancreas. Such diets should be diets rich in proteins and vitamins. Some of the recommended foods which should be taken by people suffering from pancreatitis include egg whites, milk, beans, lean cuts of meat, low-fat dairy products, vegetables, fruits, among other foods and drinks rich in proteins and vitamins (Shrikhande Barreto, 2018).

On gastrointestinal anatomy and physiology, we first need to understand that pancreas is an organ which is about 6 inches long and is normally located behind the stomach at the back of the abdomen. Its head is normally located on the right-hand side of the abdomen and is usually connected to the duodenum (the first section of the small intestines) through a narrow tube called the pancreatic duct. In physiology, the pancreas plays two main functions in the human body where these functions are digestive and hormonal balance function (Denbow, 2015). For its digestive function (exocrine function), the pancreas has an exocrine gland which releases some digestive enzymes such as amylase, lipase, and protease which help in the breakdown and digestion of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids in the duodenum. When the pancreas is functioning normally, these digestive enzymes normally move through the pancreatic duct into the bile duct in an inactive form and are always activated after getting into the duodenum where they help in the digestion process. For the hormonal balance function (endocrine function), the pancreas produces insulin and glucagon hormones which help in the process of blood-sugar regulation in the body (Golson Kaestner, 2017). Therefore, if a person suffers from pancreatitis, the pancreas doesn’t function normally, and this impacts its digestive and the endocrine functions (blood-sugar regulation) negatively (Gupta Deshpande, 2018). This means that pancreatitis has a significant negative effect on the gastrointestinal anatomy and physiology systems of the patient suffering from this disease or disorder.

There are many diagnostics or significant symptoms shown by the people suffering from pancreatitis. Some of the major symptoms include the swollen and tender abdomen, a feeling of nausea and vomiting, fever which may become more severe with time, weightless, diarrhea which may result due to poor food digestion and absorption, among other symptoms (Scheers et al., 2017). The people suffering from pancreatitis also experience great abdominal pains and these pains result from the fact that when the pancreases of the people suffering from pancreatitis release the digestive enzymes (lipase, protease, and amylase), these enzymes don’t wait to get to the duodenum to be activated but instead are activated when still in the pancreases where they start ‘eating’ the pancreases causing severe abdominal pains to the patients. At times, the pains experienced are self-limiting and may subside after sometimes and come back later. However, in 10 per cent of the cases goes on to a threatening form of pancreatitis where this auto digestion continues to cause problems. What this happens the patient goes into a form of hypovolemic shock. The protease is proficient in breaking down the proteins that we eat are now going to break down the blood vessel, change the capillary permeability of the blood vessels, intravascular fluids are allowed to leak out, the inflammatory process causes vasodilation this causes patients not to have blood pressure. Prothrombin is activated as a result of these enzymes circulating systematically now we have defused venous thrombus formation, pulmonary emboli, disseminated intravascular coagulation can form. Lipidletic takes place and binds with calcium which drives the calcium levels down. So now the patient has hypocalcemia. With pancreatitis, we are able to indirectly cause the inflammatory process to occur in the pulmonary capillary bed, so this is how pancreatitis induces adult respiratory arrest syndrome.

There are several pharmacological treatments which are applied in treating pancreatitis. When a patient is presented with pancreatitis, the first nursing intervention will include pain management and making the patient comfortable. Then, the investigation will need to include the blood samples taken to determine if it is pancreatitis, so the labs needed to confirm pancreatitis will include looking at the serum lipase, serum amylase will be elevated, leukocytosis or elevated WBC, elevated blood sugar, elevated liver function test, elevated bilirubin and decrease in calcium. After all these examinations, the most appropriate pharmacological treatment methods are applied. In most cases, the people with pancreatitis are normally treated using intravenous IV fluids which are injected in their bodies or other appropriate pain medications (antibiotics) which have proved to be very effective especially in the treatment of acute pancreatitis (Moggia et al., 2017). In very severe cases, surgery is normally recommended where it helps in the removal of the severely damaged or dead tissue of the pancreas (Ni et al., 2015). The medical practitioners decide on the method of treatment to apply to the patients depending on the type and the seriousness of pancreatitis. All these pharmacological treatments have proved to be very useful and effective as they help the patients with pancreatitis to regain back their good health where their pancreases start functioning normally once again (Okazaki et al., 2017). The nurses play a vital role in the treatment of pancreatitis as they are the ones who interact with the patients most of the times. They help in injecting IV fluids in the body of the patients with pancreatitis and offer the appropriate pain medications (antibiotics) to these patients. They also educate and advise the patients on how to use the given medications and some of the unhealthy practices which they should avoid for their pancreatitis not to worsen (Booker, 2016). In addition to treating, educating, and advising the people on good dietary and healthy measures which people should practice to reduce their chances of getting pancreatitis, the nurses should always be there to comfort, assist, and offer any other support which the patients suffering from pancreatitis may require. This comfort, assistance, and support are very vital in the lives of the patients and always help them to recover their good health fast and efficiently as they have some medical experts around them who are always ready and willing to support them where they need any assistance or support.

From the discussion, we can say pancreatitis is one of the major digestive disorders which have significant effects on the digestive system and the entire health of the patients (Doane and Yeo, 2019). If not given the required medical attention, pancreatitis can have some detrimental effects on the patients. Therefore, it’s highly recommended that whenever a person notices the symptoms of pancreatitis, he/she should seek medical attention as fast as possible to avoid facing some detrimental consequences which he/she may face if the disorder advances to become more severe (Burkhart, 2018).