Family Practice Physician, Cape Regional Physicians Associates, Ocean View, New Jersey
Title: Improving Distribution of Education on Inhaler Use, Using a Dot Phrase, to Adult Patients
with a Visit Diagnosis of COPD or Asthma
Authors:
Zoe Futules, DO; Michael Ibrahem, MD
Need and Objectives:
There is evidence that educating patients on inhaler use is beneficial to proper technique, and guidelines consistently recommend clinicians regularly address patient’s inhaler technique. There was no existing standard way to provide and document education on inhaler technique at the Shadyside Family Health Center. Our objective was to increase distribution of educational material by creating a standard dot phrase to be included in the after-visit summary (AVS) for patients 18 years or older with a visit diagnosis of COPD or asthma.
Setting and Participants:
Patients included in the intervention were 18-years and older, seen for in-person or telemedicine appointments, with visit diagnosis of COPD or asthma at Shadyside Family Health Center from 5/1/2023 – 7/28/2023.
Description:
We chose to adapt an MDI educational handout already available in Epic and named it“.FHCinhaler”. A first email was sent to all physicians that included introduction of the dot phrase, eligibility criteria, and instructions to add the dot phrase to the AVS either by typing it or by creating a button for faster access. On 6/21/23 the phrase was added to the Huddle Board, to remind physicians before each clinic session. Finally, a second email reminder was sent on 7/7/23.
Evaluation:
The phrase was not used for the first 5 weeks after the first email was sent. Use of the phrase modestly increased after Huddle Board and second email reminders.
Discussion:
This project began the early stages of implementing a new process to educate patients on inhaler use that could be implemented in other offices. One lesson learned is it takes multiple reminders to physicians to implement a new process. This project could be expanded in the future to create a smart set that adds the phrase to the AVS as well as documentation to the note.
