Spirometry in Practice2 Jun 2008

The Association for Respiratory Technology and Physiology (ARTP)/ British Thoracic Society (BTS) Spirometry Courses & National Assessment

The ARTP/BTS Certificate in Spirometry was introduced to give a recognised national qualification for those practitioners who follow and complete a recognised programme of study.

It is particularly suitable for Assistant Physiologists and staff in Primary Care undertaking spirometry as part of an extended role.

The Primary Care training Centre has now gained accreditation to deliver this course and has been approved by the Association for Respiratory Technology and Physiology (ARTP) in conjunction with the British Thoracic Society (BTS) through the BTS/ARTP Liaison Committee who have established a qualification to assess the competence of practitioners to perform such measurements.

The Spirometry Assessment

In recent years the number of health care professionals, other than laboratory based lung function technicians, performing relatively simply lung function measurements has gradually increased. Although nationally agreed standards have been published for the performance of Lung Function measurements, spirometric measurements made in primary care often falls way below the acceptable standard.

With the recent publication of guidelines for the care of patients with COPD, in addition to those already published for Asthma and with the new National Service Framework for COPD about to be launched at the end of this year 2008, greater emphasis is placed on basic lung function measurements at all levels of health care provision.

The ARTP/BTS Certificate in Spirometry has been introduced to give a recognised national qualification for those practitioners who complete the Spirometry assessment.

For further information please contact the Training Centre.