Nurses' Perspective on Inhaler Education

Abstract Description

Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :

Clinical Safety and Quality Service I (Projects aiming to improve efficiency and effectiveness of care delivery to meet international standards)

Authors (including presenting author) :

Lai YKA (1)(2)(3) Ng SW (3)(4)

Affiliation :

(1)Hong Kong Metropolitan University (2)Queen Mary Hospital (3)Hong Kong Respiratory Nursing College (4)United Christian Hospital

Introduction :

Inhalation medications are main pharmacological therapies in COPD. However, high rate of inhaler error in patients with COPD are common and contribute to hospital admission and thus increase of healthcare cost. Nurses play a pivotal role in patient education and the management of inhaler therapies. Nonetheless, there have been reports of nurses lacking sufficient knowledge in inhaler techniques.

Objectives :

This study aimed to (i) examine nurses' self-efficacy and practices regarding inhaler use education, and (ii) understand the training needs of nurses in the education of inhaler use.

Methodology :

We conducted a cross-sectional online questionnaire survey to gather data on nurses' self-efficacy and training needs in providing inhaler education. The online questionnaire was disseminated using an anonymous link, employing an exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling strategy from May to June 2023. Snowball sampling served as a cost-effective and efficient approach to reach the target population. An online self-administered, anonymous questionnaire was composed of demographic characteristics, nurses' self-efficacy and practices regarding inhaler use education for COPD patients and training needs and, support.

Result & Outcome :

There was 156 participants (67.4% female, and 43.6% aged 40 years or above). Of which, 55.8% completed a Master's Degree or higher, 51.7% possess over 10 years of post-registration working experience, and 60.5% have undergone specialist training. The findings showed that nurses with working experience more than or equal to 10 years had higher rating on importance of inhaler use education { β[95% confidence interval (CI): 0.39 (0.11, 0.39), p<0.01, Cohen’s d: 0.23} and confidence on inhaler use { β[95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64 (0.24, 1.05), p<0.01, Cohen’s d: 0.25} with small size effect respectively. Both nurses with experience less and more than 10 years had similar rating on “discussing with patients to improve inhaler use” { β[95% confidence interval (CI): 0.32 (-0.07,0.7), p>0.05, Cohen’s d: 0.13} and “assessing patient’s technique of inhaler use” { β[95% confidence interval (CI): 0.43 (0-0.01, 0.87), p>0.05, Cohen’s d: 0.16}. For those nurses with specialty training, they had similar rating on ”importance of inhaler use education” { β[95% confidence interval (CI): 0.22 (-0.03, 0.47), p>0.05, Cohen’s d: 0.14} but higher rating on “confidence in educating on inhaler use” { β[95% confidence interval (CI): 0.68 (033, 0.89), p<0.001, Cohen’s d: 0.31}. Also, for nurses with specialty training had higher rating discussing with patients to improve inhaler use { β[95% confidence interval (CI): 0.56 (0.23, 0.89), p<0.01, Cohen’s d: 0.27} and assessing patient’s technique of inhaler use{ β[95% confidence interval (CI): 0.79 (0.42, 1.15), p<0.001, Cohen’s d: 0.34} For the needs and supports to enhance participants’ ability to provide inhaler education, the relatively high rating included respiratory specialist training (56%), in-hospital service training (47%) and providing resources about inhaler use (40%).