HCPs ENCOURAGE PATIENTS TO #ASKABOUTASTHMA

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Each month, CREATION.co’s respiratory tracking update will bring you the latest insights into the online UK healthcare professional (HCP) conversation regarding respiratory disease.

The month of September saw 3,242 UK HCP mentions of respiratory disease and related terms, from 1,317 unique UK HCP authors.

The first substantial peak in conversation about respiratory disease occurred around the 20th September. There are two main events which contribute to this: #AskAboutAsthma campaign week and PCRS Respiratory Conference 2019.

#ASKABOUTASTHMA

The #AskAboutAsthma campaign (15th – 21st September) is co-organised by the NHS and Healthy London Partnership, with the aim being to “encourage small steps to help improve the quality of life for London’s children and young people living with asthma”. We saw UK HCPs getting behind this campaign, encouraging the public to use and follow the hashtag.

the hashtag to follow today #AskAboutAsthma have a great day – wonderful to have so many professionals working to improve #Asthma care for CYP HT @HealthyLDN @SaraNelsonRGN @LyndaHassell @TracyDBeaker – @WeCYPnurses @CYPNAUK @CYPStNN @CYPNurseLeaders @RCPCHtweets @RCPCH_and_Us 🌟 https://t.co/BmdFhp4a1T

— 🌟 Kath Evans RGN RSCN 💙💛 (@KathEvans2) September 18, 2019

The focus of this year’s campaign was around improving air quality, with UK HCPs and patients sharing the #OneThingLDN that they could do to make a difference to pollution levels.

UK HCPs explained that every September, as children return to school, there is a sharp increase in asthma hospitalisations – the campaign runs at this time to deliberately coincide with this increase. HCPs were therefore encouraging parents to be vigilant in maintaining inhaler routines during this back-to-school transition time, and to be especially alert to any changes in their child’s condition during this week.

PCRS 2019

The PCRS (Primary Care Respiratory Society) Conference ran from the 19th – 21st September, and held in Telford, Shropshire, had UK HCPs engaged online as well as offline.

Eight UK HCPs shared summaries from a presentation around the future of respiratory care including the possibility of new medications and technologies, linked to the NHS long term plan.

There was also online conversation around the importance of different HCP role types within a multi-disciplinary team providing care to patients with asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) in order to improve outcomes.

Similarly, Johnathan Laird, a UK pharmacist, asked his peers for their views on the importance of the role of pharmacists in asthma care.

I'm doing a number of talks on the role of the pharmacist in the care of people suffering from asthma this autumn.

What key messages should I deliver?@murph_ac @TCapper78 @Garry42779 @DrAbdulWPhD @GPPharmaSid @GrainnedAn @DarushAttar @fajones7 @Gill_Cameron23 #pcrs2019 #NRAD pic.twitter.com/RDBEF45VHd

— Johnathan Laird (@JohnathanLaird) September 20, 2019

A lengthy thread then followed below his post, with many UK HCPs raising key points around the role of a pharmacist in respiratory disease, including to provide patient education on inhaler technique, liaise with GPs and attend patients’ annual asthma reviews.

ERS 2019 – UPDATED ASTHMA GUIDELINES

The European Respiratory Society International Congress, which began on the 28th September, caused a significant spike in mentions towards the end of the month.

At this time, the key topic discussed online by UK HCPs was the presentation and introduction of the new GINA (Global Initiative for Asthma) guidelines, which “no longer recommend treatment with short-acting beta-2 agonists (SABA) alone”.

HCPs actively shared this information; discussing the common blue inhaler using strongly worded phrases such as “kills people with asthma”, “they should be banned” and “clearly unsafe”.

The most reshared individual UK HCP post came from Mark Levy, GP and Chairman of GINA Dissemination and Implementation Committee, who called for a change after 50 years of asthma management.

#ERS2019 @GINA Support for new GINA recommendations – lots of evidence linking #asthma deaths with SABA use even a few times a week – so time to change 50 years of management of this condition ⁦@RespNprang⁩ ⁦@PCRSUK⁩ ⁦@asthmauk⁩ pic.twitter.com/mju2zXUudA

— Dr Mark L Levy (@bigcatdoc) September 30, 2019

This month in the respiratory disease space, UK HCPs showed interest in PCRS and ERS congresses as well as the #AskAboutAsthma awareness campaign. Check back next month to see what will drive the conversation in October!

We are tracking each month the HCP conversation within respiratory disease. You can keep up to date with this and other pharmaceutical tracking updates, including drug approvals, within the Tracking section of CREATION Knowledge, or sign up to receive our monthly ejournal with all of our latest HCP insights.