Guidance and Best Practice

This article has been created as a summary of a range of material from PCRS tools and encompasses the basics of a good respiratory review.

The National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) came out a decade ago, yet as a nation, we still have the highest asthma death rate in Europe - four times that of Italy or the Netherlands. This is unsurprising, considering many patients still rely on their blue inhalers alone.However:• Blue inhalers don’t treat inflammation• Brown inhalers don’t relieve symptoms quicklyFirst and foremost, the best inhaler is the inhaler the patient will use and identifying what this is should actively involve the patient.

New BTS/SIGN/NICE Guideline on Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management 2024

This is a high-level summary of what the new BTS/NICE/SIGN Asthma: diagnosis monitoring and chronic asthma management guideline means for you as a primary healthcare professional and what steps you need to take to implement it effectively. 

Now is the time to make MART moves for asthma. We have been using the separate blue (reliever) and brown (preventer) inhalers for far too long. The National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) came out a decade ago, yet as a nation, we still have the highest asthma death rate in Europe. This is unsurprising, considering many patients still rely on their blue inhalers alone. However, 

Maintenance and reliever therapy (MART) is a treatment for asthma where a single combined inhaler is used for both maintenance and reliever purposes, instead of having separate preventer (brown) and reliever (blue) inhalers. 

Inhalation is the main route for administration of drugs for conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The advantage of administering drugs by inhaler is that drugs are delivered directly to the site of action within the airways. The onset of action is rapid and systemic adverse effects are minimised. However, for an inhaler to be effective the correct drug must be prescribed and the device must be used correctly. Poor inhaler technique is common.

This article explores the impact of the environment on the health of people with asthma and COPD and focuses on two key areas, indoor (home) and outdoor pollutants and severe weather extremes such as heat waves or very cold weather