WIP 121 - Improving Asthma Control in pediatric patients by including Asthma Action Plan: A Quality Improvement Project

Poster Number: WIP 121
Publication Number: WIP 121.2529

Background: Asthma is a condition characterized by chronic inflammation in the airways that causes recurrent episodes of breathlessness, wheezing, and chest tightness and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Asthma Action Plans (AAP) are intervention tools to assist patients and parents to control asthma by outlining the medications to manage the condition, recognize exacerbations, and identify signs when to seek help. Previous studies have shown that using AAP have increased patient’s knowledge of their condition, improved the management, and decreased hospitalizations. Our baseline data showed that only 20% of pediatric patients were receiving the AAP in the inpatient unit as part of their discharge. A quality improvement project was initiated to improve the inclusion of AAP to their discharge instructions.

Objective: To improve asthma control in pediatric patients aged 2-21 years old by including AAP from 18% to 80% of all admitted patients with the diagnosis of asthma in 6 months.

Design/Methods: The Electronic Medical Record (EMR) at our hospital can attach the AAP to a patient’s discharge instructions. The inclusion criteria were all children aged 2 to 21 years of age with the primary diagnosis of asthma. A series of interventions with multiple PDSA cycles are being conducted. The first was 1:1 education of the pediatric residents in the inpatient unit. The second was placing a poster in the resident workroom, which acted as a constant reminder; the third was sending a mass email to all of the residents demonstrating the importance of including the asthma action plan and how to include it to the patients’ discharge instructions. The fourth PDSA cycle, which is in progress, will be an education session at the grand rounds. The EMR of the patients are being periodically reviewed to see the outcome of our interventions. The study was IRB approved.
The overall goal is to complete the project over 1 year. The results will be interpreted in a run chart to analyze how successful the interventions were throughout the project.