EFA’s survey on minimum standards for COPD care in Europe completed
This year, EFA conducted a survey to evaluate the minimal standards of care for COPD patients in Europe as viewed by the patients themselves. EFA members and other patient organisations in different European countries were asked to complete a questionnaire concerning the disease in their country. On the basis of information collated EFA is now preparing its publicationon Minimal Standards of care for COPD Patients in Europe which is going to be presented on World COPD Day on November 20, 2013. The deadline for completing the questionnaire was July 10, 2013. EFA would like to thank all organisations for taking part in the survey and providing us with their input. The first ten associations to answer the questionnaire are listed below and will receive a small gift from EFA headquarters in Brussels:
- Polish Federation of Asthma Allergy and COPD Patients’ Associations
- Association for Asthma and COPD in Serbia and Montenegro
- Lungenliga Schweiz
- FENAER
- Swedish Heart and Lung Association
- Longfonds
- HELI
- FFAAIR
- RESPIRA
- Czech Initiative for Astma
The aim of the book is to share best practices, raise awareness, inform policy makers and health care professionals, encourage prompt actions to be taken to address the issue and improve existing national standards of care for people suffering from COPD. EFA believes that the project will represent a step forward in understanding and promoting the best care for and interest of COPD patients in Europe.
Results of the EFA Pilot Pharmacies Project presented in Milan
EFA’s Pharmacy Pilot Programme launched in spring 2013 bore fruit. Pharmacies in Vienna received the boxes with ARIA guidelines, questionnaires for allergy patients, guidance for allergy patient interaction and other useful materials related to allergy prevention. The programme, which is a part of EFA’s ongoing Allergy Awareness Project, is based on an assumption that pharmacists are the very first health care professional seeing a person at risk of respiratory allergies. Thus, they can play a major role in early identification of an allergy and in providing guidance to proper medical diagnosis. With this Pilot initiative, EFA aimed at demonstrating the role of pharmacists in early identification of people suffering from respiratory allergies.
The plan was to monitor customers and their demands, identify people with a potential risk of allergies and refer them to a physician to get a proper diagnosis. To achieve the goal, 315 pharmacies in Vienna were asked to use the validated Allergy Screening Test Questionnaire to identify customers at risk of respiratory allergy. The project had been carried out from April 8th to June 8th 2013, which is a high allergy season in Austria. A total of 2259 participants took part in the project and more than two thirds of them have never done an allergy test before. As a result of the study, more than 76 % of people were considered to be at an increased risk of a respiratory allergy. From those who didn't have any allergy test before, nearly 68 % were at moderate to severe risk of allergy. More than half of the people who has never done an allergy tests before actually had a moderate to severe feeling of illness. From those who have done an allergy test before, nearly three quarters were feeling ill.
A total of 1101 people (48.7 %) were recommended to meet a physician to get a proper diagnosis.