Home Making a difference with Asthma MURs!
Asthma is a very common condition - 5.2 million people in the UK are receiving treatment for it, that's 1 in 10 children and 1 in 12 adults which is one of the highest rates anywhere in the world.
Although many GPs and their teams have for a long time provided asthma clinics within their practices which help to manage the treatment of people with asthma, many pharmacists could be forgiven for thinking that asthma is a disease that we treat effectively in the UK; unfortunately this is not always the case.
There were just under 1,400 deaths from asthma in the UK in 2004 - that's one death every 6 hours. An estimated 75% of hospital admissions from asthma and 90% of deaths are thought to be preventable with good management of the condition.
Community pharmacists can make a difference to these startling statistics by helping people with asthma understand more about their medicines and how to use them. Targeting people with asthma for MURs is a good way to play your part - the MUR is the ideal vehicle to improve a person's knowledge of their condition and the medicines used to treat it.
In order to help community pharmacists to carry out asthma MURs, Asthma UK - the charity dedicated to improving the health and well-being of people in the UK who have asthma - has worked with PSNC to develop a MUR support pack. This pack has been produced in association with Haymarket Medical, the publishers of MIMS.
The pack provides information and advice for pharmacists undertaking MURs for people with asthma as well as helping patients to understand their medicines. The resource pack also helps to identify any problems patients are experiencing, offering possible solutions.
A supporting leaflet for people with asthma ‘Asthma advice from your pharmacist' is also available. This leaflet is designed to be given to a person with asthma before they have an MUR, perhaps when an appointment for an MUR is made.
For more information on asthma visit the health professionals section of the Asthma UK website.
Asthma MUR support pack (PDF format)
'Asthma advice from your pharmacist' leaflet (PDF format)