The Skill of Meter Dose Inhaler Technique and its associated factor among Pharmacy Professionals in Addis Ababa Governmental Hospitals in 2021-2022

Abstract

Summary Background: A Meter dose inhaler is one of the most commonly used devices in the management of asthma. Good meter dose inhaler technique is vital for a drug to be effective and given the wide range of drugs used for treatment of respiratory conditions, cost of misuse can be significant. If patients are not using their inhalers correctly the need for increased dosages, systemic steroids and irregular visits to the doctor may increase. However, in most studies conducted around the globe, pharmacists have suboptimal knowledge and skill on meter dose inhaler technique. Objective: To assess the skill of meter dose inhaler technique among pharmacy professionals in Addis Ababa selected governmental hospital, from September 2021 to February 2022. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the skill of the meter dose inhaler technique among pharmacy professionals working in five selected governmental hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Simple random sampling was conducted to recruit 310 pharmacy professionals from the study subjects. Data was collected by means of pretested and structured checklists. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 25. To ascertain the association between dependent and independent variables, an odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was calculated, and the p value was considered significant at the level of <0.05. Finally, the study findings were presented using diagrams, tables, and figures. Result: A total of 310 pharmacy professionals were included in the study. Overall response rate was 305 (98%). From the respondents only 38 (12.5%) have optimal skills. Pharmacy professionals with training on MDI technique were, found to have optimal MDI skills than who do not have one. Training is significantly associated with the pharmacy professional’s skill of MDI administration technique (p= 0.00). Conclusion: Our study observed that most of the governmental pharmacy professionals' skill of MDI technique was suboptimal. These findings point to the need for skill of MDI technique training programs to be implemented on a regular basis. Key Word: MDI, pharmacist, skill