Children in NYC are almost three times as likely to be hospitalized for asthma as children in the US. Over the past decade, NYC has seen large increases in emergency room visits for asthma among young children. NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) noted that children receiving care in the emergency room (ER) were returning to ER within 7 days at an alarming rate and requiring hospitalization. Review of patients' charts showed that providers were not consistently treating asthmatic children based on state-of-the-art asthma management guidelines. In 1999, the NYC HHC embarked on an effort to reduce the asthma ER revisits and thus decrease admissions for asthmatic children by standardizing asthma management throughout the eleven acute care hospitals. HHC implemented a "Train the Trainer " educational program on asthma management for pediatric providers using the NIH Guidelines; an education program on state-of-the art asthma care for nurses, and other health care professionals; multilingual educational materials; health education for children and their families; a system for the ER to schedule follow-up visits to primary care providers within three days of the ER visit; and working with other organizations to improve and better coordinate the asthma care for children. As a result of a standardized approach to pediatric asthma management in the ER, the asthma ER revisits was reduced by 72%. By educating pediatric providers on state-of-the art asthma care, and providing multilingual asthma education to children and their families, HHC was successful in reducing pediatric asthma ER revisits and hospitalizations.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, the participants will be able to identify effective strategies to reduce childhood asthma emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
Keywords: Asthma, Children
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Employee
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.