Inhalation Devices (Available in English and French)

For most individuals with asthma, inhalation medication remains the mainstay therapy for the treatment of asthma. The Canadian Asthma Consensus Guidelines (CACG) suggests that more than 50% of patients use their inhalation devices inappropriately, reducing the effectiveness of the medications. The guidelines recommend that the best delivery device that suits the need of the patient should be selected when prescribing medication. Health care professionals should teach the correct inhalation techniques when devices are being prescribed and dispensed. (Level1)

The Ontario Thoracic Society (OTS) Provider Education Program developed an educational CD-Rom on Inhalation Devices in an attempt to improve the understanding of asthma devices and inhaler technique amongst health care providers. The premise being that this knowledge will translate into an improvement in patient outcomes.

The goals with the CD Rom are the following:

To improve HCP knowledge on inhalation devices and inhaler technique.

To provide helpful tips on how HCP can educate patients on taking their medications correctly.

To showcase the devices available and the variations between them.

To emphasize the need for spacing devices with metered dose inhalers (MDIs).

To explain how to care for the devices.

 

Spirometry CD-Rom

It is unlikely that you would diagnose hypertension without a blood pressure cuff, or evaluate someone’s blood glucose level without a glucometre.  Likewise, one should not arbitrarily treat respiratory disease without an objective measure of lung function such as spirometry.
The Canadian Asthma Consensus Guidelines state that objective measurements such as spirometry are needed to confirm the diagnosis of asthma and assess asthma control and the efficacy of therapy.

This view is echoed in the Canadian Thoracic Society COPD guidelines, which state that airflow obstruction confirmed by spirometry is essential for the diagnosis of COPD.  All patients with suspected COPD should have their lung function assessed by spirometry. A Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) of less than 0.70 is required for the diagnosis of COPD.

The Spirometry in Primary Care CD-Rom endorsed by the Ontario Thoracic Society, Ontario Respiratory Care Society and the Family Physicians Airways Group of Canada is currently being distributed to primary care providers across Canada.  The CD is easy to navigate and includes: spirometry interpretation, example cases, peak flow, related links and resources.

The objectives of the CD are as follows:

To describe the role of spirometry in primary care

To list the indications and contraindications for doing spirometry

To outline the steps involved in performing spirometry

To understand spirogram acceptability criteria

To distinguish between restrictive and obstructive ventilatory defects

 

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