Asthma School is a health school that helps people learn as much as possible about a chronic condition such as bronchial asthma. Most patients with this ailment have practically no knowledge of it.
In order to take timely measures in the event of an onset of an attack, the patients themselves and their closest relatives should know everything about the respiratory organs and about what destructive changes in them can occur when bronchial asthma is affected.
The described disease belongs to the category of chronic pathologies. Throughout life, it flows from the exacerbation phase to the remission phase, and vice versa. The school is designed to teach the patient to monitor their health and not be afraid of another relapse.
What is asthma school
Asthma School allows all interested patients with bronchial asthma to undergo training. The lessons in this institution are divided into courses during which patients will be presented with special topics to help prevent the occurrence of seizures and related complications in the future.
In the classroom, patients with bronchial asthma study how the disease develops, what rules should be followed in everyday life in order to alleviate its symptoms. It is also very important to learn how to take emergency measures in the event of an attack – sometimes it can be life-saving.
Who can attend classes
The School of Health for Patients with Bronchial Asthma is ready to accept every person with this disease, regardless of gender and age. In this case, it does not matter in what form the disease proceeds and how long it lasts. Only the severity of the disease is taken into account. Private lessons are organized for people with severe asthma.
Children’s health school groups operate on the basis of hospitals and pulmonary centers. In these schools, children with asthmatics are taught the necessary self-help techniques, and all the most important information is presented more clearly than for adults.
Regular students of the school will be able to get all the necessary knowledge about this disease, as well as develop useful habits for everyday life.
The main goals and objectives of the school
Anyone must be able to monitor their health and respond in time to the appearance of unusual symptoms. For patients with asthma attacks, managing their well-being is a vital skill.
Patients should be aware of the causes of the development of the disease, as well as what treatment will be effective in this or that case. It should be understood that if you do not have the necessary skills, then any attack in the future can result in complications, up to and including death.
The School of Asthma Health helps patients achieve the following goals:
- avoid the progression of the disease;
- get basic knowledge about the course of the disease and about self-help techniques;
- learn to determine the level of complexity of the disease without anyone’s help;
- familiarize yourself with the initial symptoms of asthmatic suffocation;
- to study the techniques of rapid relief of attacks of asthmatic suffocation;
- explore ways to prevent exacerbations;
- get an overview of how to learn how to control attacks of the disease;
- Learn about the latest asthma therapies
- learn how to use all kinds of devices – the doctor will demonstrate how to use an inhaler, nebulizer and spacer ;
- gain knowledge on how to independently control the course of the disease;
- develop daily habits that minimize the risk of flare-ups.
The activities of the school of bronchial asthma are mainly aimed at teaching patients the rules of behavior and special techniques that will keep them alive for as long as possible. Therefore, the main tasks of the health school are to:
- provide patients with full-fledged learning conditions;
- answer numerous questions clearly and in detail;
- teach practical techniques;
- convince patients of the need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and adhere to a special regime and rules.
If patients take the learning process responsibly and follow the recommendations of doctors, their quality of life will significantly improve.
Lesson program
The school of health for patients with bronchial asthma operates according to a special training program, which provides for personal and collective lessons.
The lecture program covers the following:
- What is asthma, what is the structure of the respiratory system.
- Rules for the use of medications, in particular corticosteroids.
- Features of “nocturnal” asthma and the reasons for its exacerbation.
- Treatment of the disease by non-drug methods.
In addition to lectures and conversations, discussions are practiced, all kinds of examples of real situations are considered. The most important element of the training is easy communication, as well as the exchange of opinions between patients. This, to some extent, reduces the prevailing role of the doctor, endows the patient with greater self-confidence. Any collective lessons are combined with personal ones.
A personal study plan for asthma will be as follows:
- Clarification of the symptoms and characteristics of the course of the disease in each individual person.
- Training in the correct use of inhalers.
- Particular attention is paid to the process of teaching the patient the methods of treatment that would be effective in a given situation.
- The most important element of the training is the presentation of information about the correct behavior during an attack of suffocation, the ways to quickly and correctly use drugs for asthma. In addition, patients will be told in which cases it is possible to use self-help techniques, and when it is important to seek medical help in a timely manner.
Thanks to individual lessons, each patient will be able to achieve significant improvements in health. The preparation at the school is focused on each patient personally, taking into account his needs. This allows, if necessary, to return to difficult problems again and again, while allowing you to control the acquired abilities.
Where are they organized and how
Asthma schools are formed in medical diagnostic centers. The group of patients gathered in such schools is closed, since the inclusion of additional patients in the group after the start of training is an unjustified step. It is better in this case to form an additional group if necessary. Monitoring the effectiveness of therapy should take place not only during the very study at the asthma school, but also before lessons.
The signs listed above should be stated in the training journals before and after the courses.
Asthma schools should be equipped with computer technology for conducting classes so that you can view slides, videos, use video equipment and an overhead projector . Organizational issues for the functioning of such an institution lie with the chief physician of the hospital or polyclinic, to which the health school belongs.
If the patient does not understand how asthma develops, and at the same time does not trust the attending physician, no long and detailed courses will help him. The person must have self-help skills that can save lives in especially dangerous times. But for this he must realize why he attends asthma school at all.
The main directions in training
Thus, the awareness of the patient and his relatives about the disease and emergency care is very important. This is the only way to count on the positive effect of treatment and lead a full daily life.
To find out at what point an asthma attack occurs in children of asthma school, to determine how high-quality and effective the treatment is, it is necessary to constantly use a peak flow meter , which allows monitoring breathing. Data with a peak flow meter are going for a full day, and the results of the study appear in the form of a curved graph. It shows daily deviations of the main parameters, as well as periods with the highest probability of exacerbation.
Patients are told about the rules for using this device. In addition, asthma patients are taught to correctly use devices such as dosing inhalers, nebuhalers , autohalers, and volumatics . These devices allow you to take small doses of drugs and avoid large particles of the drug entering the food tract, which can cause complications.
Asthma schools practice special breathing exercises that help to properly use aerosol drugs, produced in the form of a powder. This form of release is much safer for nature and humans, because it does not imply the use of freons, which contribute to increased atomization. Devices that help to use drugs in the form of powder are rotohalers , therbohalers , M inhalers, spinhalers and dischalers .
Features of the work of asthma schools
A bronchial asthma school can make life much easier for patients if lectures are organized correctly.
For high-quality learning, it is necessary to create the following conditions:
- Provide comfortable furniture in classrooms. At the same time, the technical equipment and lighting must be at a high level.
- A maximum of 10 people are enrolled in the health school groups for the treatment of bronchial asthma. This limitation is due to the fact that the health worker simply cannot respond properly to all questions if classes are conducted for groups with a larger number of students.
- Not only the patient, but also his closest relatives should attend classes at an asthma school. This will help them know what to do in the event of an asthma attack.
- The organization of work at the school is built in such a way that each patient attends about 10 lectures, 90 minutes each. At the same time, classes are held daily or every other day, so that the patient does not erase the information received from his memory, and he has time to consolidate it.
- In 1 year, a person can take about 10 training courses for prevention.
Each lesson takes place in the form of a dialogue. General rules of conduct and principles of school attendance are explained by the attending physician at the first meeting with patients. In addition, patients need to understand that all questions need to be voiced as soon as they arise.
Finally
At the school of health for patients with bronchial asthma, patients not only learn what steps to take when an attack occurs, but also study the structure of the respiratory organs, and also learn about modern methods of diagnosing and treating this disease.
The education provided in school is designed to improve the quality of life of patients, as well as to help them develop a clear mechanism for responding to sudden attacks.