The advent of COVID-19 has added to the complexity of asthma management. The evolution of the disease state ‘long COVID’ has resulted in a need for vigilance by health practitioners such as pharmacists to ensure at risk patients, e.g. people living with asthma, are aware of the risks and are adherent to their asthma management plans.
Pharmacists have an important role in assisting patients to manage their condition. This may include the importance of adhering to preventer regimens to decrease the risk of asthma flare-ups, especially in light of exposure to viral respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 and/or influenza. The influenza season has been predicted to be worse due to the low immunisation rates for influenza in recent years which in turn increases the risk of significant flare-ups in asthma patients.
Pharmacists should deliver advice regarding managing asthma to patients and carers at every opportunity. This best practice management of asthma has undergone many changes in recent years which has led to changes in the Australian Asthma Handbook and the national asthma management guidelines for health professionals.
To help pharmacists stay abreast of these changes, Guild Learning and Development, alongside their strategic partner the Australasian College of Pharmacy, is pleased to announce the popular course Asthma management and the role of the pharmacist in optimising patient outcomes has been updated and made available for pharmacists once again.
The updated course provides an opportunity for pharmacists to revisit and review the latest management guidelines for asthma. This course examines the stepwise approach to asthma management, and addresses the role pharmacists can play in improving patient outcomes in people with asthma.
Guild Learning and Development would like to thank GSK for the provision of an unconditional grant which made the development of this course possible.
To enrol in this course please visit https://guilded.guild.org.au
- Australian Asthma Handbook www.asthmahandbook.org.au