Relationship between inspiratory and expiratory flow rate in people with obstructive airways disease and how this may inform inhaler selection.

Director of Studies: Dr Carol Kelly

Second Supervisor: Prof Sally Spencer

Booth’s project looked at how to improve inhaler device selection in primary care through looking at the relationship between inspiratory and expiratory flow rate in people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

His research question is ‘Can you use Spirometry or Peak Flow, which are regularly measured in primary care, to predict if people with respiratory conditions are more suitable for either an Aerosol or a Powder inhaler?’ The output of the project ultimately is to produce a tool or methodology for health professional use, to improve treatment for people with respiratory conditions.

Inhaled therapy remains the mainstay of treatment for people with respiratory conditions. Treatment is safe and effective, however knowledge and ability to use the plethora of different devices is sometimes complex, and can be difficult for non-specialist health professionals working in Primary Care. Currently there are just two types of inhaler devices: Aerosol and Dry Powder. Aerosol inhalers require a “slow and steady” inhalation, whereas Powder inhalers require a “quick and deep” inhalation.

Booth has been looking after people with COPD and asthma for twenty years, checking inhaler technique, undertaking lung function testing, and optimising treatment, and will use this knowledge within his postgraduate research project.

Developing a core outcome set for physiotherapy research in bronchiectasis.

Director of Studies: Prof Sally Spencer

Second Supervisor: Dr Carol Kelly

Physiotherapy is one of the recommended and commonly used treatments for people with bronchiectasis, but the research evidence supporting it is not currently sufficient.There is high variation among researchers regarding which outcomes to measure in their studies, which makes them hard to use in producing scientific evidence. Using interviews and a special form of surveys, this project aims to achieve agreement among researchers, people with bronchiectasis, and physiotherapists on which outcomes to use in research and clinical practice.

The output of this research will be a list of recommended outcomes and tools to be used by all researchers and physiotherapists working in this area. This will make future research more meaningful for people with bronchiectasis and more helpful for physiotherapists in measuring the effect of their treatment.