Pharmaceutical intervention in the usage of inhalers with COPD patients that have an appointment in a health center to do an spirometry

Abstract

Background: the usage of inhalers is something complex. This work with COPD patients pretends that, after the pharmacist intervention, the correct usage of these drugs is guaranteed so as to improve the quality of life.  Methods: the nurse set a date to do an spirometry to the patients. On the other hand, the pharmacist assessed the usage of the inhalers and carried out the adherence and quality of life tests. Three months after, the patients came back to the consultation and the pharmacist repeated the same procedure to detect any possible change after the intervention. Results: on those patients that attended both appointments, it was seen that there were statistically significant changes between the adherence punctuation regarding both appointments. The average of punctuation is higher in the second appointment (49.09) in respect to the first one (46.45), this is a significant difference with a p<0.05. The quality of life was the same in both appointments and the errors average in the usage of inhalators in the second appointment decreased (1773) significantly in respect to the errors average in the first appointment (4727). Conclusion: the intervention of a pharmacist in a multidisciplinary team to the following of COPD patients is advantageous to these patients, mainly in relation to the usage of inhalers and the adherence to treatment.