Doctors, pharmacists and patients do not know how to use epinephrine inhalers or auto-injectors correctly. Misuse that affects the effectiveness of treatments.
During an asthma attack, the good use of its inhaler can be saving… but few asthmatics know how to use it well. 92% of them miss at least one step in the use of these devices, according to a study from the University of Texas (United States). The results, published in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, point out that healthcare professionals also make mistakes.
Allergy: 84% failures
As part of the research, the American team recruited 102 allergic patients with an epinephrine auto-injector and 44 asthmatic patients equipped with metered-dose inhalers. All showed how they used their devices.
One in ten allergic patients had already had self-injection… but the majority of the group made mistakes during the demonstration. Only 16% reproduced all of the steps correctly, while 56% made three or more mistakes. Participants most often failed to put on the device within 10 seconds of the onset of anaphylactic shock, but also failed to press hard enough to allow adrenaline to be injected.
Asthma: 7% success rate
Asthmatics don’t do better, while inhalers are easier to use. Only 7% of participants passed all self-administration steps. Of the rest, 63% missed three or more stages. Most of the time, patients forgot to empty their lungs before inhaling the bronchodilator. The buzzer, which signals misuse, was often ignored, and many patients forgot to shake the device before taking a second puff.
“Despite the devices being revised to promote ease of use, most patients continue to make at least one mistake with the autoinjector,” the researchers conclude. “Furthermore, many patients make several mistakes and would not benefit from self-administration as a life-saving treatment if the need were felt. “
According to the study’s authors, these results suggest that the patients were not trained properly, or that they forgot instructions over time. In fact, the longer the time between the prescription of the devices and the demonstration, the more errors the patients made. “Healthcare professionals also lack knowledge about the correct self-injection technique,” the team reports. “This lack of certainty on the mode of administration is a major barrier to the use of the drug. “
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