Helping children gain asthma control: bundled school-based interventions

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Pulmonology
• Public Health Initiatives
• School Health Programs

Background:

• A prior quality improvement initiative successfully enhanced asthma outcomes for children within Cincinnati Public Schools' school-based health centers (SBHCs).
• Building on this success, a new collaborative was formed to expand asthma improvement efforts.
• The focus is on reaching inner-city children with asthma in various school settings, including those without SBHCs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the plan for a new asthma improvement collaborative.
• To outline the strategy for spreading successful asthma interventions to a broader population of inner-city children.
• To detail the use of evidence-based, school-based interventions for improved asthma control.

Main Methods:

• Formation of a new asthma improvement collaborative.
• Implementation of bundled, evidence-based, school-based interventions.
• Utilization of a nurse practitioner to deliver interventions within schools.

Main Results:

• The abstract outlines the plan and methods, not the results.
• Further research is needed to evaluate the outcomes of this collaborative.

Conclusions:

• The collaborative aims to replicate and expand upon the success of previous asthma quality improvement efforts.
• School-based interventions delivered by nurse practitioners are central to the plan for improving asthma control in underserved populations.