Pharmaceutical service: Use inhalation sprays correctly
Pharmacies explain: Asthma sprays only work when used correctly (Image source: © ABDA)
Stuttgart – People with asthma can live better with their disease if they use their medication such as inhalation sprays regularly and correctly. For a year and a half (June 2022), patients have had the opportunity to receive individual and detailed training on their asthma spray at a pharmacy. Many pharmacies offer this pharmaceutical service to those affected – the costs are covered by health insurance companies. The Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association (LAV) will provide information about this in the run-up to World Asthma Day on May 7, 2024.
Asthmatics are entitled to training, explains Friederike Habighorst-Klemm, patient representative on the LAV board, if they have been prescribed a medication for the first time or have changed medication. “This pharmaceutical service aims to improve the use of so-called inhaled asthma medications and to give patients greater security in their use.” Because only if patients use the medication correctly will the required active ingredient reach deep into the body the lungs and can make breathing easier. The pharmacist explains: “If asthma medication is not used correctly, the symptoms of the disease worsen, the quality of life decreases and there may also be an increase in hospital stays if the breathing problems worsen.”
Habighorst-Klemm continues: “I repeatedly experience in consultations in my pharmacy that asthmatics do not use their inhalation sprays correctly.” There are different asthma medications that are prescribed as inhalers, as so-called Halers or even powder dispensers. “Each of these dosage forms requires a different breathing technique so that the medication develops its bronchodilator and often anti-inflammatory effect and those affected can breathe well again,” says the pharmacist.
During the pharmaceutical service, patients aged 6 and over are first explained and shown how to use the inhalation medication. Those affected then have the opportunity to practice the application with “dummy devices” until the application, including the breathing technique, works without errors. Friederike Habighorst-Klemm: “I would like to encourage asthma patients to have their inhalation technique checked. The safer you are with your medication, the better you will be able to live with your asthma.”
Pharmacies that offer pharmaceutical services relating to the correct use of asthma sprays can be found on the website www.apoguide.de. First select the relevant service “Inhalation technology” and then find a suitable pharmacy using a zip code or location search. “For the pharmaceutical service, please make sure to make an appointment with the selected pharmacy so that the team has time and peace for individual advice and training,” advises the LAV patient representative.
Image source: © ABDA
The Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association e. V. is committed to providing independent advice to patients, health prevention and the safe dispensing of medicines. There are around 2,200 public pharmacies in Baden-Württemberg. The association represents the economic and political interests of its members. In addition to licensed pharmacists, around 15,000 specialists, mostly women, work full-time or part-time in the country to ensure the well-being of patients. The Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association e. V. is certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001: 2015.
Further information at www.apotheker.de
Become a fan now: Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association e. V. on www.facebook.de
Contact
Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association
Frank Eickmann
Hölderlinstr. 12
70174 Stuttgart
0711/22334-77