15 March 2021

Several studies show that health care professionals (including doctors, nurses and pharmacists) may only demonstrate correct inhaler technique to patients around 10% of the time. This is of paramount importance because the way a patient uses a device is proportional to the amount of drug they will deposit in their lungs, which in turn has a direct correlation with emergency attendance at the hospital and poor respiratory disease control..

This session will include:

  • Familiarisation with inhaler competency guidelines
  • The importance of correct inhaler technique
  • Increase confidence in teaching and checking inhaler technique
  • Recognise common errors in inhaler technique
  • How websites and apps like rightbreathe can assist in clinicians in consultations
  • Demonstrations of some of the commonly used devices

The session will cover:

  • Asthma Guidelines
  • New developments in asthma management
  • Small airways disease in asthma
  • Inhalers and the environment
This session has been sponsored by Chiesi. This session contains promotion.

The evidence suggests that between two thirds to a half of all medications prescribed for long term conditions are not taken as recommended. In asthma care, there is widespread non-adherence to taking preventer medications regularly (NICE, 2009).

This session will cover:

  • The difference between adherence and concordance with treatment
  • Personalisation and relational working
  • Consultation techniques: benefits/concerns, health/literacy, safety netting
  • How to spot poor concordance
  • Tools to aid concordance including play therapy