Asthma is a long-term (chronic) condition and it’s the most common long-term condition to affect children and young people. Regular checkups with healthcare professionals are necessary for chronic conditions, and in the case of asthma, there are several options of highly effective medicines.

Asthma medicines – such as preventer and reliever inhalers – allow most people with asthma to live active, healthy lives without their asthma getting in the way. For the medicines to work, it’s important that people take their medicine as prescribed and, in the case of inhalers, that their technique for taking the medicine gets the medicine to the lungs, where it can work.

Healthcare professionals are still the first point of call for advice on how to deal with a long-term condition. For the day-to-day management, however, patients can make use of several tools. Some can be low-tech and simple, for example, a note on the fridge door reminding to use the inhaler. Or you can link taking a regular inhaler to regular habits, like tooth brushing, by putting inhaler and toothbrush in the same place.

As might be expected in the digital age, the amount of digital support to manage asthma is increasing. Again, there are low-tech and high-tech versions, a simple option might be keeping a copy of an asthma action plan on your phone for a quick reference. Lots of resources are available though and the number is increasing, we introduce some options below. Continue reading “Digital tools for asthma management”