Introduction
Target Audience
This module is intended to support any healthcare provider (nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, physicians) coach patients on how to use their inhaler devices. The provider will know how to help decrease the patient’s risk of hospitalization due to COPD (or asthma) flare ups by addressing, inhaler technique, non-adherence and action plan use.
Learning Objectives
- Understand how poor technique, non-adherence and lack of action plan use cause increased risk of hospitalization with COPD flare-ups
- Identify and correct gaps in patient’s inhaler technique for inhaler devices
- Learn how to explore the patient’s beliefs in COPD (that can, if not addressed, lead to non-adherence)
- Understand how to explain the purpose (and benefits) of long acting agents used for prevention of COPD exacerbations
- Briefly explain the difference between inhaled steroids for asthma and for COPD
- Explain the purpose (and benefit) of a COPD action plan
- Understand what actions are outlined in a COPD action plan
- For nurses working in the Emergency Department:
- Explain the purpose (and benefit) of an asthma action plan
- Understand what actions are outlined in an asthma action plan
Technique
Non-Adherence
Action Plan
The work was developed as part of the Richmond Hospital Preventable Adverse Drug Event Program, funded by the Richmond Hospital Foundation and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. Innovation & Translational Research Award 2016.
