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BACKGROUND: Asthma is a major public health issue. It remains uncontrolled, despite the availability of effective treatments. Appropriate education programs are required to improve the situation. The study aims to design and assess an educational program based on asthma patients' perceived needs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional prospective study was conducted in the pulmonology department of the Hassan II University Hospital in Fez. A convenience sample of asthma patients, whether hospitalized or not, was recruited. Two hundred and twenty adult asthma patients completed an educational needs survey (ENS). An asthma knowledge questionnaire for adult patients was used to assess the program on the criterion of improving asthma knowledge. Data collected by ENS was analyzed by standard descriptive statistics. The Student's T test for paired samples was used to compare the means of the Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire scores before and after therapeutic education. RESULTS: Most patients were married and residing in urban areas. The illiteracy rate was 50%. One patient was a regular smoker. 125 patients (56.82%) reported non-compliance to treatment. The pathophysiology of asthma (chronic airway inflammation, bronchial hyperreactivity, and bronchial obstruction), causes and complications, treatment (inhalation technique), asthma attacks and environmental management, lifestyle, and psychological support were the patients' main perceived educational needs. Based on these findings, an instructional program was created and evaluated with 30 patients. After the program, asthma knowledge increased significantly. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that an educational intervention can improve asthma knowledge.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a diagnostic tool often used during the management of interstitial lung diseases (ILD). However, its diagnostic value in discrimination between entities comprising the very heterogenous group of ILD, is still a controversial issue. The objective of our study is to assess the diagnostic value of BAL in the management of ILD, by comparing the cytological findings in BAL fluid among the different diseases of this group. METHODS: It was a retrospective, observational study of 151 patients between January 2012 and December 2015. BAL fluid cytology was performed to analyse the distribution of leucocytes population subsets in patients with ILD. RESULTS: The mean age was 52.78 years; 74.83% were women. The analysis of the following main groups of diseases was performed : sarcoïdosis (n = 30), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF; n = 22), other idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (non specific interstitial pneumonia, cryptogenic organising pneumonia and respiratory bronchiolitis interstitial lung disease; n = 20) and connective tissue disease (n = 14). Overall, out of 141 patients, 22% had sarcoïdosis, 15.6% had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), 14.18% had other idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) and 9.9% had connective tissue disease (CTD). Mixed alveolitis was common in the 4 groups, sarcoïdosis had higher proportion of lymphocytes and IPF had higher neutrophils count. However, there was no significant statistical difference of BAL cellular count among these diseases (p > 0.05). Also, the prevalence of studied diseases did not change with variation of BAL cellular count (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Alone, the BAL cytological analysis has a limited value to provide substantial information that could lead to discriminate between diseases that form ILD. Thus, it must be always associated with other diagnostic methods.
