Introduction:

Underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis of asthma and COPD is enormous worldwide. This is partly explained by a poor accessibility and medical use of spirometry. The aim of this study was to describe the impact of a 5-hour workshop on medical competence regarding use and interpretation of spirometry.

Method:

Topic sessions, a technical video and 16-real spirometries workshop were developed for the project. Medical professionals from 31 states completed a residential course with initial and final evaluation.

Results:

A total of 1,343 professionals, 71.3% general practitioners and family physicians, completed the workshop and examination. Only 37% were able to recognized post-bronchodilator spirometry as the recommended diagnostic test for COPD and 11% correctly diagnosed severe airflow obstruction in the baseline evaluation. After the workshop, there was a significant improvement in all items of the examination and 81.2 % correctly recognized severe airflow obstruction.

Conclusion:

In this study medical knowledge and competence for using and interpreting spirometry in general practice is clearly insufficient, but a few-hours workshop may be highly efficient for training medical competence in continuous medical education programs.