TEACHING RESIDENTS TO USE ASTHMA DEVICES - ASSESSING FAMILY RESIDENTS SKILLS AND A BRIEF INTERVENTION

OBJECTIVE To evaluate an educational program for family medicine residents on using selected inhaler devices for delivery of asthama medications. DESIGN A prospective analysis using pretests and posttests of a nonrandomized study group and control group. The study group of residents was given an instructional manual and a set of devices for home study, followed by a 1-hour tutorial session with a clinical instructor that included a video and hands-on practice. SETTING Family medicine centres in Edmonton hospitals. PARTICIPANTS The study group consisted of a convenience sample of 23 first- and second-year family medicine residents at the Misericordia Hospital Family Medicine Centre. The control group consisted of a convenience sample of 22 first- and second-year family medicine residents at the Royal Alexandra Hospital Family Medicine Centre. Nine residents did not take the posttest; one was absent because of injury, one missed the in-service, and seven had left the city on other rotations, had completed their program, or declined to participate. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Improvements in scores on a multiple-choice test and in techniques of using the devices. RESULTS Using an average of scores on seven different devices, only 36% of residents showed adequate knowledge of how to use the devices on the pretest. Posttest scores improved for both the control (P < 0.001) and study (P < 0.001) groups, but improvement was signficantly greater for the study group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Residents lacked adequate knowledge of asthma devices. More study is needed to confirm the long-term effectiveness of formal teaching about the devices.