May 03, 2018
Test picks up gaps in asthma care
Northland pharmacists have developed a test to measure how well customers are managing their asthma.
Spokesperson Iain Buchanan says the region has high rates of asthma, with poor housing and access to healthcare contributing factors.
From the high rates of hospitalisation it is clear Maori are not managing their asthma as well as non-Maori.
The district health board has agreed to fund the programme where customers getting asthma scripts are asked five simple questions.
"It's a matter of spending a bit of time with patients, getting them to understand they are the ones that need to work with their asthma and improve their control or their understanding so we are here to start that conversation and should their control be below what we would like it to be we are referring them back to their GP for further help too improve their asthma," Mr Buchanan says.
He says pharmacists find for cost reasons patients sometimes only pick up the script for the blue reliever inhaler rather than the long term inhaler that helps keep their asthma under control.
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