Enhancing Care for Children with Asthma: Assisting Health Centers and Clinics with Systems Change Processes with the Intention of Increasing Positive Health Outcomes for at-risk Children with Asthma

The American Lung Association’s (ALA) Enhancing Asthma Care for Children has partnered with over 50 clinics in the states of Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas that have completed or in the process of completing an in depth quality improvement intervention focusing on 12 elements of guidelines-based asthma care. Technical assistance, mentoring, and in depth training are provided by the ALA to all clinic staff including physicians, nurses, health educators, respiratory technicians and medical assistants which results in improved patient outcomes including asthma control and reduced symptoms. This quality improvement intervention utilizes a collaborative approach to implement new systems that support and sustain adherence to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Employing a continuous quality improvement approach to develop clinic systems that facilitate and ensure high quality asthma care in clinics is an essential part of the intervention. Benefits for clinics participating in this intervention include improved care for children with asthma, more effective and efficient systems, standardization of care, and better documentation processes. Special attention and emphasis is given to clinics that serve at-risk children who disproportionately bear the brunt of the negative effects of an asthma diagnosis such as increased hospitalizations and ER visits, limited access to treatment, and ill-managed symptoms. This session will reveal the intervention successes, barriers, and appropriate steps to well processed and organized clinics that improve health outcomes for at-risk children with asthma.