Importance of Following Proper Inhalation Techniques and Awareness Regarding Asthma among Clinical Patients

Abstract

Aims: Asthma is one of the biggest health burdens on the Sri Lankan population. Achievement of treatment goals isdetermined mainlythrough pharmacological management. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the patient inhaler handling techniques and their awareness regarding their disease condition, as well as to find out how an educational intervention effects patients‘ inhaler handling techniques. Study Design:  A Prospective cross sectional study used. Place and Duration of Study: National Hospital for Respiratory Diseases, Welisara and Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Kalubowila between June 2017 to August 2017. Methodology: Clinically diagnosed asthma patients were randomly divided into Control and Test groups. Control comprised 94 patients and the test comprised 93 patients. Their baseline knowledge about asthma and inhaler-using technique were assessed in 1st month by using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and checklist respectively. The test group was given both information leaflet and verbal instructions. Again, all the participants were assessed for the inhaler techniques on their next clinic day by using the same questionnaire and the checklist. Results: After the educational intervention, there was a statistically significant improvement in the test group, in the adherence to the nine steps, including critical steps, regarding all 3 device types (PMDI, DPI, and PMDI with Spacer) in the 2nd-month visit. (at  P =.05) When considering awareness about asthma in the total population, most participants were knowledgeable regarding asthma. Conclusion: We observed gaps in knowledge between current practice and what is expected in patients with asthma regarding their inhaler therapy. This might be due to the quality of instructions delivered by health care providers being insufficient and them lacking the time to observe patients individually for the inhaler techniques. Awareness regarding asthma and inhalation techniques can be raised by using information leaflets as well as through verbal counseling.