SMS Medical Outcomes Research Project Asthma Outcomes Study. Provider education the next step

Since the initial meeting of the Asthma Study Group in the summer of 1996, the group worked with MORP staff to develop an outcomes instrument, define a study population, survey more than 800 adults with the diagnosis of asthma, and report the survey results back to the providers involved with those patients. After reviewing the survey results, the group developed an Asthma Toolkit aimed at providing reference materials for physicians and their staff and also useable materials for their patients with asthma. The Asthma Toolkit was produced through the efforts of the study group, the SMS MORP staff and the SMS Marketing and Communications Department. We developed an education program to disseminate the toolkit and improve the care of the patient with asthma. Initial reaction to this educational program has been enthusiastic, and evaluation of the Asthma Toolkit's usefulness is underway.