This initiative allows the patient to be actively involved in the assessment and monitoring of the disease itself.
The project has been awarded by the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR).
The Functional Asthma Unit of Bellvitge University Hospital, coordinated by the Pulmonology Service, has started a pioneering home spirometry program this February.
It is a program in which the patient borrows a portable professional spirometer from the hospital, is instructed on how to use it, is tested at home, and returned on the next visit. In this way, the previous PCR and the waits of the process of being tested in the hospital are saved, it gains in comfort and safety, and, above all, it is actively involved in the assessment and monitoring the disease itself.
This project was presented at the 1st Virtual Meeting of the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), held on 7 and 8 May, where it won the first prize for innovation in projects implemented for healthcare improvement and the quality of life of the patient with severe asthma. So far, about twenty patients have participated in the initiative, with very good results of operation and satisfaction on the part of the participants.
Dra. Mariana Muñoz, coordinator of the Asthma Functional Unit, points out that, initially, the idea was born “as a resource due to the difficulty of scheduling these tests when all efforts were focused on the Covid-19”, but that, in the Given the good results, the initiative "will have continuity beyond the pandemic and will be expanded with the acquisition of more spirometers." Spirometry is a test that measures the lung capacity and airflow that the patient is able to exhale and inhale through forced maneuvers.
It is a fundamental procedure in virtually all areas of pulmonology. In asthma, it serves both to help diagnose the disease and to establish the prognosis of patients and assess the effectiveness of the treatments applied.