Studies

Effectiveness of Software-Based Patient Education on Inhaler Technique: A Clinical Study

Romil F. Shah, Luis F. Velez

Department of Industrial Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; and Hospital Luis Vernaza, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador National asthma guidelines to improve asthma outcomes rely on inhaled medications. However, it has been commonly recorded that the majority of asthma patients use inhalers incorrectly and that poor inhaler technique is correlated with poor asthma control. In fact, more than 25% of the 25 billion dollars spend on inhalers annually are misspent on incorrect inhaler use. Common inhaler education is written instruction, but some patients receive no training. We decided to test the effectiveness of a computer based training solution versus traditional written instruction on inhaler technique. An example of a computer based training solution used was videos found at www.use-inhalers.com. The computer based training would be easy to use and implement in clinics, or directly to patients at home. We hypothesize that it can increase a provider’s ability to deliver high quality instruction to all patients without increasing time burden on providers. Our controls were... Study Under Journal Review Low Provider Knowledge of Inhaler Technique Requires Urgent Attention Michael A. Marsh, MD & Rakesh M. Gupta, MD Roger Williams Medical Center Proper inhaler technique is necessary to treat obstructive lung diseases Factors affecting patient’s learning of inhaler technique: Education received – HCP most important source Patient’s educational/reading level Patient motivation and self efficacy Complexity of devices and Tx regimen Healthcare providers are the main source of patient education, therefore, provider knowledge is... To read more

Inhaler Use Technique and Related Interventions: An Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography with 194 references is based on searches of the National Electronic Library for Medicines (NeLM), Medline, Google Scholar and publishers’ websites The use of inhaled therapy is of great importance in the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other respiratory conditions. However, a substantial percentage of users of inhaler devices worldwide have been found to have inadequate technique or to make critical errors, which means that they do not obtain full benefit from their medication. Despite attention by researchers and the introduction of new types of device, real life use of inhalers seems to have made little progress over the past thirty years. Training of patients by health professionals has been shown to be an effective means of improving this situation, but it needs to be repeated at intervals, and it is essential that those providing the training are themselves able to demonstrate correct... To read more