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ore than 200 attendees joined us from across New Zealand for the Foundation’s biennial New Zealand Respiratory Conference this past 5-6 November, making the event the Foundation’s largest conference to date. The Foundation is proud to have delivered another two days of clinical best practice, with this year’s theme being, ‘Building the Foundation for Better Breathing’ – a reference to the recently launched NZ Adolescent and Adult Asthma Guidelines, the revised Child Asthma Guidelines, and New Zealand’s upcoming COPD Guidelines. Health professionals from a variety of professions attended either the in-person event in Wellington, or online via the Whova app. These delegates included GP’s, nurses, pharmacists, specialists, educators, and researchers from both primary and secondary care. Missed out on conference? Not to worry, we have collated a few of the highlights from this year’s programme below.
Day One Highlights Plenary One Conference kicked off with the first session ‘laying the Foundation for asthma management in New Zealand’ with Professor Richard Beasley covering the new Adolescent and Adult Asthma Guidelines, and Dr David McNamara taking us through the revised Child Asthma Guidelines. The release of these guidelines mid-2020 saw fundamental changes to asthma management in New Zealand based on advances in knowledge and outcomes from clinical trials.
Plenary Two This session saw Dr Stuart Jones introduce New Zealand’s first COPD Guidelines – this presentation was noted as one of the highlights of NZRC 2020. Betty Poot covered the Foundation’s Asthma & COPD Fundamentals E-Learning Series, and Dr Amy Chan provided a thought-provoking presentation about how digital technology can aid in asthma management.
Plenary Three Here we heard some interesting insights into how COVID-19 has affected RSV rates in 2020, and an update on associated immunisations with Dr Adrian Trenholme. Following this, Logan Heyes from PHARMAC updated us on respiratory medicines which showed a clear link to the updated NZ Asthma Guidelines.
Plenary Four Closing day one, this session spoke to Te Whare Tapa Whā, with Lady Tureiti Moxon giving us an understanding of the Wai 2575 Hauora Treaty Claim. Noelene Rapana inspired us with how cultural clinical interventions have improved health outcomes in the Bay of Plenty, and Keri Brown demonstrated how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed ‘cracks’ in Hutt housing.
