Asthma leaflets for patients: what do asthma nurses use?

This study investigated patient information leaflets used by trained asthma nurses, and nurses’ satisfaction with these. Main outcome measures were frequency of use, sources of material, and rating of reliability and readability. A total of 775 practice nurses with a diploma in asthma working in the general practice setting were surveyed using a postal questionnaire. Forty two percent of questionnaires (326) were returned. The provision of asthma information is an integral part of patient care by the trained asthma nurse. Most nurses (260, 83%) gave out between one and ten leaflets per week. An abundance of diverse information is available from a variety of sources, main sources used were Glaxo-Wellcome (cited by 47% of respondents), National Asthma Campaign (NAC) (19% of respondents) and Astra (19%). Pharmaceutical company material was considered more easily available, free of charge and more attractively presented. NAC material was viewed as more accurate. Assessment of NAC, Glaxo-Wellcome and Astra booklets revealed that they conformed to British Thoracic Society Guidelines for acute asthma. Thus, nurses stated a preference for charity information but in practice used a predominance of pharmaceutical company information. This appears to be because pharmaceutical company information was more readily available and free of charge. Nurses felt unease with self-perceived over-reliance on pharmaceutical company information.