Incorrect Inhaler Technique Among Healthcare Professionals

Online, November 20, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Inhalers were developed in the 1778 by an English physician named John Mudge and were associated with lung complaints. It wasn't until the 20th century that they became connected with asthma treatment. The first inhalers were based on a pewter tankard and Mudge used it to inhale opium vapor for cough treatment. During the 1800s ceramic pots such as Dr. Nelson's inhaler started being used to inhale plant or chemical substances and then in the early 1860's, Dr. Siegle developed a steam spray inhaler. This treatment atomized liquid medication and was the beginning of nebulizer therapy. Nebulizers are commonly used today for asthmatics that have severe asthma attacks but cannot inhale as quickly and deeply as is required when using a pressurized inhaler.

Alfred Newton developed the earliest recorded dry powder inhaler in 1864. He created a device for inhaling dry powder medications and he observed that the powder needed to be very fine and kept dry which is still true of dry powder inhalers today. His mistake was in the use of the drug potassium chlorate, now considered to be a lung irritant.

Having correct inhaling technique is crucial for any asthmatic patient. Incorrect inhaler technique normally prevents patients suffering from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from receiving the utmost benefit from their inhaled medications.

A brief verbal instruction about the correct technique along with the physical or audio-visual illustrations has the ability to prove more efficient, when repeated over time. Irrespective of the type of inhaler device prescribed, most of the Asthma or COPD patients do not tend to use their inhaler device correctly unless they receive appropriate instructions, like physical or audio- visual demonstration in their own language with an opportunity to allow them to practice at their own pace and comfort.. Healthcare providers need to provide their patients with the in-depth step by step demonstration to follow the appropriate technique.

Major causes: Most of the healthcare providers lack time and show partial interest in educating patients on the correct technique to use their inhalers. They even lag behind in accessing the patient's inhaling techniques. This is very important to ensure that the patient uses it correctly for better treatment outcome. More significantly, most healthcare providers themselves possess poor inhaler technique. Thus this leads to patients receiving guidance with incorrect techniques.

Advised Solution: This universal problem can be improved by regular and reinforced training of the healthcare providers. There are interactive audio-visual courses available online for healthcare providers, to get better trained over various aspects of inhaling techniques for each device and earn credits.

Visit www.use-inhalers.com to take the CRCE course now.