Publicación de La Revista Médico Científica de la UNACHI. Editorial Universidad Autónoma d e Chiriquí. Derechos reservados. Artículo de libre acceso para uso personal e individual.

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González, Azael et al.

inhaladores en el último año, el 47% refirió haberla recibido en los últimos 5 años, un 36% hace más de 5 años y un 2.78% nunca haber recibido capacitación acerca del tema. Al momento de evaluar la técnica inhalatoria para cada dispositivo encontramos que un 66.7% de los terapistas cometieron al menos algún error durante el uso del MDI. Al evaluar la técnica inhalatoria del handihaler encontramos que existe un 69.4 % de los terapistas que cometieron al menos un error durante su uso. Y finalmente para el dispositivo turbuhaler un 72.3% de los terapistas cometió al menos un error durante su uso.

Conclusiones: Existe un gran porcentaje de errores cometidos por parte de terapistas respiratorios durante el uso de los dispositivos de inhalación que tenemos disponibles en nuestra institución, además destaca que el 86% de los terapistas refieren no haber recibido capacitación sobre el tema en el último año. Estas observaciones sugieren la necesidad urgente de establecer programas de entrenamiento más frecuentes para el uso correcto de inhaladores y que esto a su vez impacte en la mejoría de los pacientes.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Errors in inhaler use can result in a higher rate of exacerbations of respiratory diseases, including asthma and COPD, and increased health costs. These errors are very frequent in patients and it has been shown that they could improve with the correct instruction of trained personnel.

Respiratory therapists and nursing staff are the professionals in charge of providing support to medical staff in educating patients on the use of inhalers.

Objective: To describe the knowledge of the inhalers used by respiratory therapists of the Complejo Hospitalario Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid (CHDrAAM) 2023 Panama.

Methodology: A descriptive observational study was carried out, evaluated through a survey-type questionnaire, and applied to the respiratory therapists of the Complejo Hospitalario Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid (CHDrAAM) on the correct use of the 3 types of inhalers available in our hospital. For data analysis, absolute and relative frequencies of the qualitative variables were calculated; as mean and median, for quantitative variables according to distribution. This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Complejo Hospitalario Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid with the code DENADOI-SIBI-055-2023. and all international ethical aspects were met.

Results: 36 respiratory therapists were surveyed, 72.2% were female and 27.8% male. The average age was 35 years [26-50]. 13.8% of the therapists reported having received a lesson on the correct use of inhalers in the last year, while 47% reported having received it in the last 5 years, 36% more than 5 years ago, and 2.78% never having received training. When evaluating the inhalation technique for each device, we found that 66.7% of the therapists made at least some errors while useing the MDI. When assesing the handihaler inhalation technique, we found that 69.4% of the therapists made at least one error during its use. Finally, for the turbuhaler device, 72.3% of the therapists made at least one mistake during its use.

Conclusions: There is a large percentage of inhlaers errors among respiratory therapists using the devices available in our institution. Over 86% of therapists report not having received training on the correct inhaler use in the last year. These observations suggest the urgent need to establish more frequent training programs for the correct use of inhalers, which could improve patient outcomes.

INTRODUCCIÓN

Las enfermedades respiratorias se encuentran dentro de las principales causas de muerte y discapacidad en el mundo. Dentro de estas

patologías pulmonares destacan el asma, EPOC, cáncer de pulmón y la más reciente pandemia por COVID19 1.

La mayoría de estas enfermedades pulmonares