Flipped Learning on Inhaler Drug Administration

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an important public health problem characterised by airflow limitation and persistent respiratory symptoms. The World Health Organisation reports that 384 million people worldwide live with COPD and approximately 3 million people die each year due to this disease. Effective management of the disease is of great importance for both individual health and public health. Successful disease management improves the quality of life of patients, slows the progression of the disease, reduces the frequency of attacks, and prevents morbidity and mortality. For this purpose, treatment management is recognised as a building block.

Various drugs such as bronchodilators, anti-inflammatory drugs and mucolytics are used in the treatment of COPD. These drugs are usually given in inhaler form and each inhaler drug is administered with a different technique. These techniques include metered dose inhalers, dry powder inhalers (aeroliser, breezhaler, discus, easyhaler, ellipta, handihaler, sonohaler), soft mist inhalers (vapour aerosols) and nebulisers. However, all these drugs can be effective only when applied with the correct technique. Improper use of inhalers decreases patient compliance, increases the number and frequency of attacks, and may cause the dose to be increased by the physician. For this purpose, patient education about inhaler devices is very important. Based on this, nurses should know, apply and teach the correct inhaler techniques to patients.

Nurses learn theoretical and psychomotor skills, especially inhaler drug applications, during the education process. An effective and successful education both increases the knowledge of nurses and improves their psychomotor skills for practice. In this context, the application of different teaching methods in the learning of complex information and the application of skills provides comprehensibility and retention. These methods are of great importance in critical thinking ability, clinical performance, knowledge competence and transformation of knowledge into clinical skills.

One of these methods, the flipped classroom model, is based on the principle of integrating the activities carried out in the classroom outside the classroom and the teaching activities carried out outside the classroom inside the classroom. In the literature, it is emphasised that nursing students should know the correct use of inhalers and should be skilled. However, studies on this subject are quite limited and it is recommended that more studies be conducted on this subject.