Abstract
Objectives:
To describe nurse-led UK general practice asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care, and the training undertaken to support it.
Methods:
Questionnaires were sent to 500 randomly-selected UK asthma and COPD practice nurses.
Results:
382 nurses (76%) completed the practice characteristics section, 389 (78%) described their asthma roles and training, and 368 (74%) described their COPD roles and training. 96 practices (25%; 95%CI 21–29%) ran designated asthma clinics, 87 (23%; 95%CI 19–27%) ran designated COPD clinics, and 170 (45%; 95%CI 40–49%) did not run designated respiratory clinics. Of the 255 nurses with an advanced asthma role, 51 (20%; 95%CI 15–25%) did not have accredited asthma training. Of the 215 nurses with an advanced COPD role, 111 (52%; 95%CI 45–58%) did not have accredited COPD training.
Conclusion:
Patients are increasingly being seen outside of designated asthma or COPD clinics, often by nurses with an advanced role. It is important that nurses have the training to fulfil this role.
Keywords: asthma, COPD, general practice, practice nurses, education
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Footnotes
Jane Upton, Monica Fletcher, Samantha Walker and Hazel Madoc-Sutton are employed by a training organisation, Education for Health. Professor Aziz Sheikh is a medical research advisor for Education for Health; he is also an Assistant Editor of the PCRJ, but was not involved in the editorial review of, nor the decision to publish, this article.
Timothy Frank has received fees from GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Schering Plough and AstraZeneca for speaking, funds for research from GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, MSD and Schering Plough, funds for consultancy from GSK, Pharmacia and Chiesi Pharmaceuticals and travel grants from GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Chiesi Pharmaceuticals and MSD.