Asthma 3+ Visit Plan: a qualitative evaluation

The Asthma 3+ Visit Plan is a Commonwealth primary care initiative to improve care for patients with moderate or severe asthma through visits to general practitioners (GP).

To assess the use of, and barriers to, completing the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan in recurrent emergency department attendees; asthma knowledge, symptoms and quality of life were assessed before and after undertaking the plan.

The design was a predominantly qualitative study. Consenting individuals who presented for emergency treatment for asthma were interviewed before and after completing the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan with their GP. Asthma knowledge, symptom control, quality of life and demographic information were collected and participants underwent in-depth interviews for qualitative analysis. The setting was a tertiary teaching hospital and two suburban hospitals. The participants were 20 recurrent emergency attendees with asthma.

Individuals who completed the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan had significant improvements in asthma-related quality of life and asthma knowledge. Qualitative interviews revealed that recurrent emergency attendees for asthma viewed the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan favourably. A good relationship with the GP appeared integral to the success of the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan and patient recall was an important factor in plan completion. Cost was also a barrier to patients completing the plan.

Our findings support the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan as a discharge strategy for recurrent emergency attendees with asthma.