https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200823201522.htm

The alert pops up when GPs open the medical records for a patient who has been issued with three prescriptions for short-acting reliever inhalers, such as salbutamol, within a three-month period. It suggests the patient should have an asthma review to assess symptoms and improve asthma control. Short-acting beta2-agonists (SABAs), usually described as blue inhalers, afford short-term relief of asthma symptoms by expanding the airways, but do not deal with the underlying inflammatory cause.

"Excessive use of reliever inhalers such as salbutamol is an indicator of poorly controlled asthma and a risk factor for asthma attacks. It has also been implicated in asthma-related deaths. Yet, despite national and international asthma guidelines, excessive prescribing of short-acting beta2-agonists persists," said Dr Shauna McKibben, an honorary research fellow at the Institute of Population Health Sciences Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), UK, and clinical nurse specialist in asthma and allergy at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, who led the research. "This research aimed to identify and target excessive SABA prescribing using an electronic alert in GPs' computer systems to identify at-risk patients, change prescribing behaviour and improve asthma management."