Dr. Daniel Ngui, BSc (P.T), MD, CFPC, FCFP, Family Physician, discusses Asthma and Understanding Medication Treatments

BIO:

Dr. Daniel Ngui graduated from UBC School of Physiotherapy (94), UBC Medical school (98) and St. Paul’s Hospital Family Medicine (00). He is a CCFP and is a fellow (FCFP) of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He is affiliated with both Vancouver Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital. He is also a clinical associate professor with the department of Family Medicine, UBC. Dr. Ngui has been working since 2000 in team-based community clinics for over a decade.

He is involved in teaching nurse practitioner students, international medical graduates and family medicine residents as well as developing and providing continuing medical education programs and conferences at the local and national level. He is currently a Board member of the Vancouver Divisions of Family Practice. As chair of the membership committee, and committee member for a GP for Me attachment working group, he is committed to primary care.

He has been a previous Board of Directors for both the British Columbia College of Family Physicians and Society of General Practitioners of B.C. His research interests are in Clinical Practice Guideline adoption and knowledge translation. He is taking on the role of clinic lead at FSM to help the evolution of a highly effective, compassionate and comprehensive team focusing on health promotion, chronic disease prevention and improved primary care access and hopes that FSM family practice team will serve the community for decades.

( Dr. Daniel Ngui, Family Doctor, Vancouver, BC ) is in good standing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Now health Network

In family medicine, it’s important to express to patients to teach patients about what good asthma control is because oftentimes, if we are able to individualize therapy, if we can choose the right inhaler for patients, we know that they can have less hospitalization, less exacerbations, a longer time to exacerbation and improved quality of life.

So, in family medicine we find a very helpful approach for patients is to explain the disease. Asthma as a disease can be broken down into two major components. There’s inflammation of the airways, where the air’s going through where there’s inflammation. And there’s also constriction or broncho-constriction of the muscles of the airways. This causes patients to feel short of breath and to get sick. When we treat this disease, we have different types of inhalers that can really target the two problems. For example, we have rescue medication, which help open up; they help rescue the lungs by opening up the airways.

We also have short-acting and long-acting medications that open up the airways. The other type of medication typically known as maintenance medication can be provided using an inhaler, which is going to reduce the inflammation in the lung. There are even products that are combination products; both long-acting Bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids or maintenance medications. We know that at a certain stage in someone’s asthma disease it may be time to shift from single medications to combination products for better asthma control.

In the studies that we know about combination medications, we know that patients typically have better quality of life, better control, reduced exacerbation often use less overall steroid usage. The inhaled corticosteroid component is less when used properly as a combination agent.

So in summary, it’s important as a patient to understand that asthma can be well controlled. You should expect more as a patient. You should be reviewing how well your asthma’s controlled each and every time you see your family doctor, pharmacist or healthcare provider.

When seeing them, they can go over tips and techniques, and give you some feedback on what is the ideal asthma medication regimen or give you tips and techniques on what is ideal inhaler device technique. It’s time that you take charge of your asthma and have really good asthma control.

Presenter: Dr. Daniel Ngui, Family Doctor, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Family Doctor