Multi-colored simplified asthma guideline reminder: why pragmatic asthma tools are needed in real-world practice

Asthma is a chronic disease that is highly prevalent around the world with increasing societal and economic burden. National Asthma Educational and Preventive Program (NAEPP) and Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) are evidence-based documents designed to help clinicians make appropriate decisions for their patients and to reduce undesirable variation in the care of asthmatic patients. It is a generally accepted fact that asthma specialists achieved better and improved asthma outcomes for their patients when compared with primary care physicians (PCPs). These outcome differences are somewhat related to PCPs' poor adherence to published NAEPP guidelines. Multi-Colored Simplified Asthma Guideline Reminder (MSAGR) is the first user-friendly single-sheet convenient asthma tool designed for clinicians after barriers to the poor adherence to asthma guidelines in primary care settings were identified. Voluntary acceptance and utilization of MSAGR resulted in fewer emergency room visits and hospitalizations for their patients. General acceptance of MSAGR (more than 1 million copies requested by clinicians globally), and overwhelming positive comments by asthma care providers, strongly advocate a need for real-time, pragmatic clinical tools not only in asthma, but also in other chronic diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and depression, etc. In this brief review, we discuss how clinicians, patients, and payers are utilizing these simplified asthma tools to improve asthma care in their community.