Asthma management
May 21, 2012
Asthma represents a disease that
is largely managed in the
community.
How can pharmacists have impact?
We have found that in people
with asthma who were reviewed by
the pharmacist, 77 % report
poor control.
This means that they are
experiencing many more
symptoms than they need to and
have poor quality of life.
The factors which influenced
control were poor inhaler
technique, smoking and poor
adherence to medications.
These can be influenced by
pharmacist intervention and
indeed we have a golden
opportunity to improve health care
and disease management.
We propose that this intervention
could occur at least at two levels.
Level one is to use “show and tell”
counselling backed up by review of
inhaler technique.
This intervention takes less than
five minutes and the evidence is
that this improves clinical (asthma
control and lung function) and
patient outcomes.
Level two would be a disease
management service with a change
management program.
The change requires careful
consideration of how the service
will operate, the time and
infrastructure investment.
If these factors are considered
there is good evidence for high
valuation of pharmacy services by
consumers and excellent clinical
outcomes.
We can improve asthma patient
care and change the way we
practice, other members of the
health care team are waiting to see
us take the lead, we should do this
now.
This week's
contributor is
Carol Armour,
Professor of
Pharmacology
and Associate Dean
Career Development at the
Northern Clinical School and
Woolcock Institute of Medical
Research the University of NSW.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 21 May 12To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 21 May 12
