Nursing Education & Research

Biography

Registered nurse qualified in 2011 by the University of Valladolid, Spain. He has worked for the “Servicio Murciano de Salud” in Spain, “CPAS of Charleroi” in Belgium and currently for the NHS in “Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital”.

 

Abstract

Background: Inhalers are one of the most important resources to treat and control asthma and COPD. The lack of training and follow up, as well as the inability of some patients to perform the right technique, affect their capacity to manage these diseases. The fact that a high percentage of patients make several mistakes when using the inhalers is well known, in this research we try to review the different training methods that can be used to teach individuals the right technique, and we try to find out which one of them count with the higher success rate.

Method: We used a qualitative method to carry out this research, with a systematic review/ meta-analysis design. Five different databases were scrutinised (Pubmed, Cochrane library, Cinahl, Lilacs and Google Scholar) including only clinical trials performed between January the 1^st 2013 and January the 1^st 2019. The descriptors included in the review were: metered-dose inhaler, dry powder inhaler, education, training program, and method. Using as Boolean operators the words: “and”, “or”.Among the criteria selected to include and exclude publications in this review we chose: original researches, written in Spanish and/or English, carried out in humans having in common as pathologies asthma and/or COPD.

Results: Every selected article points out the alarming amount of mistakes carried out by individuals using their inhalers prior to intervention. Regarding the best teaching method, many papers defend the good results achieved by the traditional face to face training with the healthcare professional, especially if a placebo device or a “flo-tone” are used as example. Follow ups in time show the necessity of an educational support such as videos (internet or DVD) or even summarized labels that avoid people forgetting steps and allow them review the right technique when they need.

Conclusion: The results indicate that a comprehensive educational program including a first training class with a healthcare professional (using devices that allow practice), followed by a support platform of easy access in time for people, will improved the performance of inhaler technique at short and long term.We miss in actual literature this profile of project, which leads us to the conclusion that further investigation in this field is still needed despite the numerous trials already performed regarding inhalers.