Janine S. Bishop, MPH¹, Lisa J. Chamberlain, MD, MPH¹, and Laurie Bauer, RN, MPH². (1) Division of General Pediatrics, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, 750 Welch Road, Suite 325, Palo Alto, CA 94304, 650-725-0923, jbishop@stanford.edu, (2) Health Services Department, Ravenswood City School District, 2160 Euclid Ave., East Palo Alto, CA 94303

Background: Asthma is the most common chronic illness among children and a leading cause of ER visits/hospitalizations. A considerable gap between effective care and what children receive exists, particularly among underserved children.

Objective: Test the feasibility and acceptance of a population-based approach to improve outcomes for pediatric asthmatics, by utilizing a partnership between a school system, community providers and a general pediatric training program.

Target population: Children K-8 in Ravenswood School District in Northern California with asthma and the physicians, teachers, and school staff who serve them. 10% of children (500 asthmatics) identified.

Methods: Pediatric asthmatics were identified through school. Partnership between pediatric residents and school district was established, and needs assessment performed. Three main interventions developed with input from pharmacies, community-based organizations (CBO) and parents to utilize the unique role of residents as advocates.

Results: 1. Residents improved provider services through assessment of physician needs and creation of asthma resources for clinics. 80% of local physicians adopted changes. 2. Residents trained 120 teachers and staff to identify and treat asthmatics. 3. Residents collaborated to develop a bilingual, school-based asthma management class for parents and asthmatic children. Anticipate reaching 250 children. 4. Program improved coordination of care by linking families to CBO home visiting program to identify and minimize asthma triggers.

Conclusion: We demonstrated a successful collaboration between a school district, community providers and pediatric residents to improve asthma treatment. This enabled us to impact asthma care in the physician office, school and home. Evaluation of ER/hospitalization rates is underway.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the benefits and challenges of an academic and community-based partnership.
• Discuss strategies for developing a partnership between pediatric residents and a school district, to address high asthma related ER and hospitalization rates in an underserved community.
• List three main asthma interventions that were developed by physicians, pharmacists, and community-based organizations.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.