Asthma Right Care March 2023 update
The Asthma Right Care movement continues to develop in many countries, and we had a Strategy Team and Delivery team meetings in March.
Strategy Update
The Strategy Team are overseeing various projects including the curation and development of practical tools to support the delivery of the eight people-centred statements. These include an IPCRG Asthma Right Care guide to digital and pictorial personal asthma action plans, new inhaler videos and links to other inhaler resources, and a mixed methods study on the long term use of oral steroids in chronic respiratory disease. We also discussing the use of games for teaching and learning and as part of that have relased a survey on our Question and Challenge cards which you are welcome to complete.
Our Asthma Right Care Teach the Teacher programme continues to be rolled out in Latin America and further tier 3 development in Brazil and Mexico is planned for 2023, funded by GSK. We also aim to launch the programme in the Republic of North Macedonia this year.
Having developed the eight people-centred statements, the group are now drafting the core primary care competencies and training/teaching methods that are required to implement these – to offer guidance to our members about Asthma Right Care teaching and learning programmes.
A new Right Care searchable resources repository is being produced, and we will let you know as soon as this is launched.
Delivery Team Update
We heard from Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Malaysia, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Tunisia at our recent delivery team meetings, while work also continues in other countries where Asthma Right Care has been launched.
New countries
The programme launched recently in Bangladesh with Siân Williams (IPCRG CEO) and Ee Ming Khoo(IPCRG President) visiting to introduce Asthma Right Care. The Bangladesh Team is working through the initial stages of the Implementation pack, including mapping stakeholders, designing and adapting resources and running their design charrettes and workshops.
Malaysia has agreed to run a quality improvement programme, using a PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act) approach to implement Asthma Right Care in a primary care clinic. This will kick off with a design charrette to adapt the resources and engage stakeholders.
One of our Slovenian colleagues applied successfully for one of IPCRG’s research grants and is using it in support of a study on the priorities in asthma care in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. This will include semi-structured interviews, a delphi method and a cross-sectional study using a specifically developed questionnaire.
Tunisia started Asthma Right Care in 2022 and has now run its design charrette using a World Café approach. This has led to commitment to the SOAP campaign “SABA Overuse Awareness in Pharmacies”, an asthma lexicon in Tunisian Arabic, French and English; development of translations of the Asthma Slide Rule and the Reliever Reliance and a new “SABA Overuse Risk Evaluation Disc” which they plan to make available in pharmacies.
Ongoing progress
Argentina is waiting for its asthma bill to be passed into law! Meanwhile, building on its existing GANOA project, it is reaching out to colleagues to join Asthma Right Care and building its case for change through research publications. They are ready to further roll out the Asthma Right Care Teach the Teacher programme to Tiers 2 and 3. Another key focus for the Argentinian team is planetary health; and have recently prepared a position paper about the implications for asthma of fires and toxic fumes.
Brazil is planning a system-wide approach, olling out its 2023 Teach the Teacher programme tier 3 in 23 cities, developing Asthma Right Care social media strategies and planning webinars, focus group discussions and forums some of which will tie in with World Asthma Day
Spain, one of our pilot countries, has a tier 3 Teach the Teacher for pharmacists planned and a school’s project underway. They have also published a validation of the Reliever Reliance Test in Spanish, contributing to our knowledge about how to raise the topic of over-reliance on SABA and how to counsel patients effectively.
Portugal, another pilot country, has plans to build on the success of World Asthma Day 2022, including many public activities and walks. It is also maximising the spread of its number of videos, TV exposure and website. A Portuguese Reliever Reliance Test validation is underway.
Other Updates
Asthma and tobacco use is being reviewed by the Brazilian and Spanish groups as the data shows people with asthma are often more likely to be tobacco users.
The delivery team reviewed the recent WHO Guide to brief interventions to consider how to build on the time-limited approach. This is particularly important where asthma is not the reason for the consultation.
The second run of the Implementation Course for new countries is taking place in March and April.
We will be working with special interest teams to develop messaging and material on asthma in pregnancy and planetary health.
If you or your country is interested in finding out more about Asthma Right Care please check out webpages www.ipcrg.org/asthmarightcare and get in touch with businessmanager [at] ipcrg [dot] org