There are two national guidelines for asthma: one is published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which was published in November 2017, and the other by the British Thoracic Society (BTS)/Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), which was published in September 2016 and an update is due in mid-2019.

The guidelines do vary slightly, with the BTS/SIGN guideline focused on the clinical evidence, whereas NICE also considers the economic impact of treatment recommendations. It should be noted that these are national guidelines and most areas will also have local guidelines and formularies specifying which treatment pathway to use, including which brands of inhalers to prescribe. For more information about the differences between the national guidelines, there is an article published in the Thorax Journal.

Practice point

• Are you aware of your local formulary and which inhalers are included? Most formularies list specific brands of inhalers to be prescribed so you need to ensure you are aware of which medicines are contained in these inhalers and how to use the different devices.

Once you've completed this module, move onto:
Part three: Pharmacological treatment
But be sure to click next to complete this module first.