Respiratory Therapists, Part II
The keynote speaker at the Respiratory Therapists' conference was Doctor Homer Boushey from San Francisco. He talked about the recent knowledge gained from his participation in several NIH-funded, multicenter clinical trials of asthma therapy. He was the first author of a rather shocking paper published in the NEJM this year showing that many patients with mild asthma can be successfully managed with a couple of prednisone bursts each year (during exacerbations) instead of daily inhaled corticosteroids (the treatment recommended by current clinical practice guidelines) He concluded his talk to about 2000 RTs in the audience that asthma treatment in the near future will be optimally tailored to each individual patient.
I gave a talk introducing RTs to the measurement of exhaled nitric oxide for confirming the diagnosis of asthma, predicting those patients who will respond to inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy, and for titrating the daily dose of ICS medications. A free forum for local residents of San Antonio with lung diseases provided spirometry and pulse oximetry testing, a sampling of inhaler and oxygen delivery devices, and the opportunity to talk with a pulmonary specialist or RT about their lung disease and treatments. I had prepared a presentation of asthma FAQs from my WebMD experience, but instead spent my 20 minutes answering the questions of ten of the patients in the audience.
I was surprised by their rather rare lung diseases, including sarcoidosis, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficient COPD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and pulmonary vascular disease.
Abstracts of clinical research done by the RTs included one from Toledo, Ohio showing how asthma education reduces ER visits and hospitalizations; one from Vietnam demonstrating the value of spirometry for asthma management; one from Durham, North Carolina showing the wide variation in peak flow values obtained using 5
different brands of peak flow meters; and several demonstrating reduced overall costs of nebulizer treatments in their hospital from switching patients from generic racemic albuterol treatments given every 3-4
hours to Xopenex (L-albuterol) given by nebulizer given every 8 hours, despite the higher cost of Xopenex (two dollars per dose versus 30 cents for albuterol).
I look forward to meeting with the RTs again next December, in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, I will meet with their respiratory technologist cousins in the United Kingdom in January,
and in Australia in March, urging the three societies to share resources.
Related Topics: Asthma Illustrated Guide, Managing Exercise Induced Asthma
I gave a talk introducing RTs to the measurement of exhaled nitric oxide for confirming the diagnosis of asthma, predicting those patients who will respond to inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy, and for titrating the daily dose of ICS medications. A free forum for local residents of San Antonio with lung diseases provided spirometry and pulse oximetry testing, a sampling of inhaler and oxygen delivery devices, and the opportunity to talk with a pulmonary specialist or RT about their lung disease and treatments. I had prepared a presentation of asthma FAQs from my WebMD experience, but instead spent my 20 minutes answering the questions of ten of the patients in the audience.
I was surprised by their rather rare lung diseases, including sarcoidosis, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficient COPD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and pulmonary vascular disease.
Abstracts of clinical research done by the RTs included one from Toledo, Ohio showing how asthma education reduces ER visits and hospitalizations; one from Vietnam demonstrating the value of spirometry for asthma management; one from Durham, North Carolina showing the wide variation in peak flow values obtained using 5
different brands of peak flow meters; and several demonstrating reduced overall costs of nebulizer treatments in their hospital from switching patients from generic racemic albuterol treatments given every 3-4
hours to Xopenex (L-albuterol) given by nebulizer given every 8 hours, despite the higher cost of Xopenex (two dollars per dose versus 30 cents for albuterol).
I look forward to meeting with the RTs again next December, in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, I will meet with their respiratory technologist cousins in the United Kingdom in January,
and in Australia in March, urging the three societies to share resources.
Related Topics: Asthma Illustrated Guide, Managing Exercise Induced Asthma
Tags:
0 Comments:
Post a Comment