Impact of a Pharmacist-led Educational Intervention on Inhalation Technique among Sudanese Patients with Asthma

Abstract

The proper use of inhaler devices can improve medication efficacy while decreasing dose and adverse effects. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pharmacist-led asthma education interventions on inhaler techniques. This study was a controlled, randomized, prospective intervention, in Wad Medani Teaching Hospital outpatient clinic, between March and June 2021.Structured questionnaire with validated checklists of inhaler techniques were used to collect data, from patients at baseline and at three months of follow-up, for both intervention and control groups. Paired and independent t-tests were used to monitor the effectiveness of the interventions. A total of 130 asthmatic patients were enrolled in this study. The intervention group contains 70 patients (53.8%), while the control group contains 60 patients (46.2%). The mean score for the inhaler techniques of Pressurized metered-dose inhalers(PMDIs) was (3.50±1.43) for the intervention group at baseline and increased after the intervention to (6.78±0.515), this result was significant at the (P = 0.05) level, and the mean score of the dry powder inhaler technique at the initial of this study in the intervention group was (4.72 ±1.50) this means were improved after the intervention to (6.83± 0.44) this result was statistically significant. There was no significant difference between the control group before and after intervention (P=0.321).This study has shown that the pharmacist-led educational intervention improved the inhalation technique of asthmatic patients. It is important to consider these programs as routine health care to enhance inhaler techniques.