Webinar recordings

Australian Asthma Handbook webinars

The updated National Asthma Council (NAC) Australian Asthma Handbook outlines important new recommendations that encourage health professionals to stop prescribing or advising treatment with as-needed short-acting beta₂ agonists (SABA) alone to manage asthma in adults and adolescents. 

The revised guidelines now recommend anti-inflammatory reliever (AIR) only therapy and maintenance-and-reliever therapy (MART) for adults and adolescents. 

View our recorded guideline implementation webinars to learn how to apply the updated Australian Asthma Handbook recommendations in everyday clinical practice.

Reshaping asthma management in children (September 2026)

This webinar provided practical, case-based guidance on implementing the updated NAC Australian Asthma Handbook guidelines into practice to assist primary health professionals in diagnosing and managing asthma in children.

It is ideal for GPs, nurses and pharmacists and aims to strengthen practical skills in diagnosing and managing asthma to confidently apply the updated recommendations in clinical practice, and to communicate management changes to families and carers.

It was presented by Dr Geshani Jayasuriya (NAC Guidelines Committee member and paediatric respiratory and sleep physician), Dr Tim Jones (NAC Guidelines Committee member and general practitioner), Ms Adele Berry (NAC Guidelines Committee member and nurse practitioner, complex asthma) and Dr Amanda Lucci (NAC Guidelines Committee member and general practitioner).

From Counter to Consult (August 2026)

From Counter to Consult, in partnership with PraxHub, is designed as a companion to our guideline webinar series. This new session is focused on practical skills, conversations, and decisions that each member of the primary care team can use to translate the updated Handbook recommendations into behaviour change and improved patient outcomes.​

The session followed the patient journey from first point of contact at the pharmacy counter, through a GP consultation, to ongoing management and follow-up, highlighting the role of the GP, nurse, and pharmacist at each stage of care.

It was presented by Dr Amanda Lucci (NAC Guidelines Committee member and general practitioner), Prof Bandana Saini (NAC Guidelines Committee member, Sydney Pharmacy School Academic Pharmacist and Woolcock Institute of Medical Research Lead), Kate Gunthorpe (Terry White Chemmart Deputy Chief Pharmacist), Ms Deepika Kaushik (Victorian Aboriginal Health Service nurse practitioner) and Dr Kate Davey (general practitioner and medical educator).

Asthma management and diagnosis: Updates from the Australian Asthma Handbook (July 2026)

This webinar focused on the updated approach to asthma diagnosis across different age groups, based on the NAC's Australian Asthma Handbook. It was presented by Ms Adele Berry (NAC Guidelines Committee member and nurse practitioner, complex asthma), A/Prof Debbie Rigby (NAC Clinical Executive Lead and advanced practice pharmacist) Prof Peter Wark (NAC Guidelines Committee member and respiratory physician) and A/Prof Greg Katsoulotos (NAC Guidelines Committee member and respiratory, sleep and allergy physician).

This session included:

• Recognising clinical patterns.
• Choosing appropriate investigations.
• Interpreting lung function.
• Establishing an accurate diagnosis across different age groups.
• Live Q& A with the expert panel.

Reshaping asthma management: Your questions answered (May 2026)

The webinar was led by A/Prof Debbie Rigby (NAC Clinical Executive Lead and advanced practice pharmacist), Dr Brett Montgomery (NAC Guidelines Committee Chair and general practitioner), and A/Prof Greg Katsoulotos (NAC Guidelines Committee member and respiratory, sleep and allergy physician). The case-based session covered:

• What’s changed in the Australian Asthma Handbook Version 3.0 and why.
• Applying the updates for improved diagnosis and management in adults and adolescents.
• Practical case scenarios addressing the questions clinicians raised at the guidelines launch.
• Live Q&A with the expert panel.

Reshaping asthma management: Launch webinar (September 2025)

The new update, Version 3.0, was published on 16 September 2025 and launched by The Honourable Mark Butler, MP, Minister for Health and Ageing with an introduction by Prof Nick Zwar, Chair of the NAC Guidelines Committee, in the National Asthma Council's Reshaping Asthma Management webinar. 

The launch of the 2025 Australian Asthma Handbook and website follows extensive research and review of national and international evidence, led by a multidisciplinary network of expert primary care and specialist contributors on the NAC’s Guidelines Committee.  

Improving Childhood Asthma Management in Inner West Melbourne education package

In 2023, the NAC developed locally tailored education packages to provide essential knowledge and tools that can enable high quality asthma care to children and adolescents in the inner west of Melbourne.

There are two education packages available, one for primary health care professionals and one for asthma care providers in non-clinical settings, such as schools and sporting clubs.

Primary health care

This session has a focus on managing asthma in the paediatric and adolescent population in Melbourne’s Inner West. It details the latest guidelines for infant wheeze, paediatric and adolescent asthma from 1-5 years, 6-11 years and 12-19 years. Topics include asthma pathophysiology, triggers, diagnosis, and management, medications, written asthma action plans, management of acute asthma in primary care and asthma first aid.

Participants will learn how to:

• Identify the steps involved in the diagnosis of paediatric and adolescent asthma - referring to the National Asthma Council's Australian Asthma Handbook.
• Identify asthma triggers and those triggers specific to the inner west of Melbourne.
• Describe the management of asthma across the different ages in children and adolescents.
• Summarise the important information to be included in a written asthma action plan.
• Define the steps in managing acute asthma in primary care.

Available to primary health care professionals: GPs, practice nurses, pharmacists, asthma and respiratory educators.

CPD hours: Complete the online program for one free 1 CPD hour.

Schools and sporting clubs

This education package focuses on identifying and managing asthma in children within a school or sports setting for children and adolescents 5 -19 years old.

The package is aimed at asthma care providers in local education settings and sports clubs including school staff and sports club staff:

• Teachers, ancillary staff, volunteers, relievers, and school leadership.
• Sporting associations, club staff coaches, officials, trainers, and volunteers.
• Teachers, ancillary staff, volunteers, relievers, and school leadership.
• Sporting associations, club staff coaches, officials, trainers, and volunteers.

Participants will learn how to:

• Identify signs and symptoms of asthma.
• Identify asthma triggers and those triggers specific to Melbourne’s inner west.
• Utilise written asthma action plans and provide effective asthma management .
• Identify the signs of an asthma emergency and how to provide first aid treatment for an asthma attack.