Tools and Strategies for Improving Asthma Management

• Published in: Family practice management Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 16 - 21
• Main Authors: Adler, Ronald, MD, FAAFP, McBride, Jeanne, RN, BSN, MM
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Academy of Family Physicians 2010
• Subjects: Asthma; Asthma - prevention & control; Audits; Continuing education; Guidelines; Health technology assessment; Humans; Immunization; Internal auditing; Internal Medicine; Intervention; Leadership; Medical diagnosis; Nurses; Nursing; Patient education; Physicians; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Practice Management, Medical; Primary Health Care - methods; Program Development; Program Evaluation; Quality of care; Quality of Health Care; Self evaluation; Spirometry; United States; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 1069-5648; 1531-1929

Several years ago, the authors suspected that their practice, a family medicine training site, was not performing well in the area. After a rapid chart audit confirmed this, they decided to launch a redesign effort. Their aim was to improve the quality of care provided to patients with asthma over six months through the reliable implementation of evidence-based guidelines. This article outlines the steps they took and the decision support tools they created to help them achieve their goal. Their first steps were developing a clear understanding of the consensus guidelines for asthma, distilling them to the salient points for a presentation to their medical staff and determining the ways in which their current practice deviated from these guidelines. To accomplish the latter, their leadership team designed a simple chart audit tool, and their quality improvement project manager and a medical student they recruited for the project audited 100 charts.