About the programme

The national Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) Fractional exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO) programme aims to improve asthma care across England by increasing the use of FeNO testing, especially in primary care to aid better asthma diagnosis and management.

These elearning modules are designed to enhance awareness of FeNO testing to support increasing the test’s uptake whilst also ensuring health care professionals are provided with the knowledge and skills required for the optimal use of this simple and safe test in the diagnosis and management of asthma.

Background

FeNO measures nitric oxide in the exhaled breath of patients. Nitric oxide is a biomarker for asthma which provides an indication of the level of eosinophilic inflammation in the lungs.

FeNO is a quick, easy and safe test. A patient’s FeNO level helps improve the accuracy of asthma diagnosis and helps indicate which medications will work best for patients. There are high misdiagnosis rates of asthma with many patients both under and over diagnosed.

FeNO can help reduce inappropriate prescribing, avoidable harm to patients and unnecessary costs to the NHS. FeNO testing produces a FeNO level (in parts per billion) which gives a value to the amount of inflammation and can therefore be used as part of the asthma diagnostic and management decision making process.

About the modules

This FeNO training package consists of 2 educational modules, primarily targeted at a primary care audience, however any health professional may complete this course.

Module 1: an introduction to FeNO testing (further module synopsis below), is:

• Aimed at all those who wish to understand what FeNO is and why it is used
• No pre-requisite learning is required
• It may, for example, be completed by respiratory nurses, health care support assistants, respiratory technicians, pharmacists or general practitioners
• Not all those completing Module 1 will complete Module 2

Module 2:  focuses on the interpretation of FeNO (further module synopsis below), is:

• Aimed at all those who wish to interpret FeNO results, and make clinical decisions
• We do not expect all those completing module 1 to complete module 2
• You must complete module 1 before undertaking module 2
• Module 2, may for example, be completed by respiratory nurse specialists, general practitioners, (respiratory) doctors in training
• Not all those completing Module 1 will complete Module 2

Endorsed by :

More information on each module

Module 1 – provides an introduction to FeNO, including a broad overview of asthma and the diagnostic jigsaw. The module will develop the learner’s understanding of what FeNO is and how it can be used to support the diagnosis and management of asthma reinforced by the real-world experiences of patients and HCPs. Key messages about how to perform testing and consideration of the language to use when talking about FeNO with patients are included.

Module 2 – focuses on the interpretation of FeNO providing an enhanced description of what FeNO is and how it can be used in the diagnosis of asthma followed by worked case examples covering a spectrum of clinical scenarios.

For further details on the AAC FeNO programme, visit the NHS England website.

To access the FeNO deployment toolkit, visit the Wessex ASHN website.

How to Access

In order to access any elfh programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.

Register >

If you already have an account with elfh, then you can enrol on to the FeNO in Asthma programme by logging in to the elfh Hub, selecting My Account > Enrolment and selecting the programme. You can then access the programme immediately in the My e-Learning section.

Not an NHS organisation?

If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.

To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.

Registering large numbers of users

If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the FeNO in Asthma programme, please contact elfh directly.

Organisations wishing to use their own LMS

For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.

More information

Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.