Home-Based Coaching Brings "Remarkable Improvements" for People Living with Breathlessness

A pilot program co-designed by patients, carers, clinicians, and researchers in the Australian Capital Territory has established a service model to help people living with breathlessness manage their daily activities. The program, known as the ACT Breathlessness Intervention Service (ABIS), demonstrated that home-based coaching can reduce the need for hospital emergency department visits. A private allied health provider, Southside Physio, funded by the Capital Health Network, delivered the pilot with remarkable results, including a significant reduction in ambulance calls and improvements in daily living activities.

Key Takeaways:

• The ACT Breathlessness Intervention Service (ABIS) is a world-first, home-based breathlessness intervention service co-designed with people with lived experience, carers, clinicians, and researchers.
• The pilot program, led by UTS researchers, found that all patients showed improvement in daily living activities and breathlessness mastery.
• 21% of patients reported avoiding calling an ambulance on 46 occasions by using ABIS-learned strategies.
• Physiotherapist Simon Kragh witnessed first-hand remarkable improvements in the lives of patients living with breathlessness, with one patient reducing ambulance calls from 150 times a year to zero.
• Associate Professor Tim Luckett noted that ABIS was co-designed with a focus on improving daily activities of each person's choosing, like dressing, which was highlighted as the most important outcome for people living with breathlessness and their families.
• The ABIS evaluation measured reach, adoption, implementation, and maintenance, informing the design of future models worldwide.

Statistics:

• 21% of patients reported avoiding calling an ambulance on 46 occasions by using ABIS-learned strategies.
• One patient reduced ambulance calls from 150 times a year to zero.
• All patients showed improvement in daily living activities and breathlessness mastery.

Sources:

• Laboratory Medicine CRC, ANZ Branch (2021) Australian Clinical Partnership on Breathlessness
• NSW Ministry of Health (2020) Palliative Care NSW: About Us
• University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Faculty of Health
• Capital Health Network
• Southside Physio