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The following is a summary of “Assessing sterility techniques in bronchodilator responsiveness testing by practicing allergists in North America,” published in the November 2024 issue of Allergy and Immunology by Chhabra et al.
The American Thoracic Society provides sterility guidelines for bronchodilator testing, but allergist adherence is unclear.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess adherence to the American Thoracic Society’s sterility guidelines among practicing allergists.
They distributed an approved questionnaire to all American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology members in 2015. Anonymous responses were collected and tabulated over 3 weeks.
The results showed that 496 out of 6,800 allergists responded to the survey (7.3% response rate). The most common bronchodilator administration techniques were metered dose inhalers with a spacer (59.35%) and nebulizers (58.52%). Of the respondents, 69.25% considered their techniques sterile, 14.05% did not, and 16.70% were unsure. To maintain sterility, 38.75% used a new disposable attachment, 18.71% used a new inhaler for each patient, and 9.13% wiped inhalers with a cleaning agent.
Investigators found that many allergists were either unsure or considered their techniques unsterile. Promoting awareness and updating guidelines on common bronchodilator administration techniques was recommended to improve adherence.
Source: jaci-global.org/article/S2772-8293(24)00121-8/fulltext
