Assessment of Knowledge and Practice on use of Metered Dose Inhaler among Patients in a Tertiary Care Centre

Background: Metered Dose Inhaler is a device that delivers a measured amount of medication as a mist the patient can inhale, According to Global initiative for Asthma (GINA) and the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) the correct use of inhalers is an important feature in preventing exacerbations of various types of respiratory diseases like Asthma, COPD etc. Various studies have suggested that the most common error was failure in synchronizing breath with actuation and failure in shaking the inhaler. Method: A descriptive study was under taken to assess the knowledge and practice regarding use of metered dose inhaler by the patients. A total of 60 patients between age group of 18 to 75 yrs using metered dose inhaler by self were selected from a tertiary centre care by purposive random sampling technique. The knowledge was assessed by using a structured questionnaire, while knowledge was assessed by using a 13 points checklist. The questionnaire was also used for assessing the socio-demographic data and baseline data regarding disease condition.Result: The findings of the study revealed that the mean age from the study came out to be 61-75 yrs. Male outnumbered female by 58.5%. The most common respiratory disease found were restrictive disease (41.7%). It was found that majority of the sample 48.3% were having average knowledge about MDI, while 43.3% were having good knowledge and 8.3% were having poor knowledge. Significant finding regarding practice of MDI was, 61.7% were having average practice, 30% were having good practice while 8.3% were having poor practice. Conclusion: Proper health education and demonstration are required to further curtail the mortality and morbidity of patients with various respiratory diseases.