Q&A: How Pharmacists Can Help Patients with COPD, Inhaler Misuse | ASHP Midyear

When it comes to medication that protects patients against chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) symptoms, certain inhaler therapies commonly stand out as the first line of defense. However, for patients who may not be aware of this defense, or for patients who don’t know how to use an inhaler device, pharmacists are the best-positioned providers to help patients with COPD.

“[It’s] going to be important that we continue to reinforce education on how to use these devices appropriately. There are studies out there showing that even if patients have perfect inhaler device technique at a visit, up to half of them will introduce some sort of error into that technique at a subsequent visit,” said Lourdes Cross, PharmD, BCACP, CDCES.

Cross is an Associate Professor at Sullivan University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Drug Topics caught up with her at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 2024 Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition, held December 8 to 12 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Read through our conversation with Cross to learn more about COPD therapies and how pharmacists can go above and beyond in this space specifically.

Cross said that cost and understanding how to use inhaler therapies are crucial to COPD management. | image credit: Africa Studio / stock.adobe.com

Drug Topics: How can pharmacists help educate patients around COPD therapies?
Cross: There are a lot of times where we can provide really good education and reinforce that education throughout in our face-to-face interactions with our patients. So definitely demonstrating how to use these various inhaler devices; there are so many out there. Ensuring that a patient is comfortable in using their device is going to be key in having good efficacy and good patient outcomes. [We’re] also allowing them to work with those practice demo devices. We don't want patients to pick up their prescriptions, go home, and to start messing with the inhaler, which they can inadvertently end up wasting doses of that inhaler. So being able to have them in clinic, use those practice devices, and to be able to correct them and to reinforce education is going to be super important.

Drug Topics: What is the pharmacist’s role in helping patients manage COPD exacerbations?

Cross: We want to prevent the exacerbation from happening. As pharmacists, we're often the first health care professionals to notice that there's some sort of issue happening, that an exacerbation is occurring or has occurred. Things we can look out for include increased use of rescue inhalers, as well as maybe a deterioration in their symptoms, because oftentimes in these routine visits, we can notice differences in things like their breathing.

[We’re] also ensuring that they have access to rescue inhaler therapy. So again, cost can be a barrier related to inhaler therapies, but also, do the patients know how and when to use those therapies is going to be important. After the exacerbation, [it’s] going to be important that we continue to reinforce education on how to use these devices appropriately. There are studies out there showing that even if patients have perfect inhaler device technique at a visit, up to half of them will introduce some sort of error into that technique at a subsequent visit. I can't reiterate enough importance, reassessing inhalers every time we have a face-to-face interaction with a patient.

Follow along with our coverage of the 2024 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition here.