Lung Foundation video on the benefits of a hand-held fan for breathlessness
Work by IMPACCT’s Dr Tim Luckett and collaborators is featured in a new training video for clinicians disseminated by the Lung Foundation Australia called ‘Chronic breathlessness: A cheap and effective intervention that health professionals can provide’.
The video encourages clinicians to recommend the hand-held fan as a safe, cheap, portable and effective non-medical intervention for managing persistent breathlessness from diseases such as chronic lung disease, cancer and heart failure.
The video’s content grew out of qualitative research led by Dr Tim Luckett that explored clinicians’ knowledge and attitudes regarding the hand-held fan, and how these could be leveraged to increase its uptake.
The research found that many clinicians mistakenly believed the fan would only be suitable for people with anxiety or as a ‘last resort’ when people were nearing the end of life. The video targets these misconceptions by summarising evidence showing that around 80% of people with persistent breathlessness benefit from the fan, and that it works in a complementary way with other interventions – including inhalers - through at least three different mechanisms.
The work that led to the video was funded by a grant from CHERE (Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise) and was a collaboration between IMPACCT, respiratory clinicians from Western Sydney Local Health District and researchers at the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre at the University of Hull, UK.
As well as appearing on the Lung Foundation Australia website, the video will be promoted through the Lung Foundation’s clinician training program and networks.
Dr Tim Luckett is a Senior Lecturer with IMPACCT. He brings a perspective at the intersection between health, social and implementation sciences that is needed to inform multi-disciplinary, person-centred care.
