On a Saturday in May 24 attendees including a mixture of Nurses from GP practices, Hospital, Residential Aged Care Facilities, Transitional Nurse Practitioner, and Physiotherapists gatehred at the Grafton District Services Club for a Asthma and Respiratory Management Seminar organised by Kate Russell, Integrated Care Project Officer in Grafton.
Everyone who attended gave excellent feedback of the workshop which was facilitated by the National Asthma Council as part of the Asthma Best Practice for Professionals Program.
The Asthma and Respiratory Management Seminar for Practice Nurses provides role-specific education on best-practice asthma and respiratory management for practice nurses. Starting with the principles of diagnosis and management, each session then covers current statistics, paediatric and adult asthma, allergy, medications, device technique and COPD followed by an overview of conducting spirometry in general practice.
The agenda included topics such as:
Asthma overview:
- Diagnostic principles
- Management principles
Medications:
- Inhaler devices – intro
- Inhaler usage steps (including demonstration)
- Spacers; Spacers vs nebulisers
Paediatric asthma
Adult asthma
Asthma action plans
Asthma and COPD
Acute Asthma
Asthma Cycle of Care
Spirometry
- Indications
- Procedure (including demonstration)
- Interpretation
Resources
Nurse-led asthma & respiratory clinics
Learning outcomes for the day:
- Increase knowledge and awareness of current, evidence-based best practice in asthma and respiratory management
- Develop practical skills to support the use of evidence-based procedures & practices (including device use, patient education, spirometry)
- Learn strategies to incorporate this knowledge/skills systematically into routine clinical practice
- Increase confidence in managing patients with asthma and linked chronic respiratory conditions