Guidelines into practice: An international pilot study of "Asthma Crystal Byte"

Decision support software offers an opportunity to improve the care of patients with asthma by linking individual management decisions to guidelines.

A guidelines based software package linked to a large database and incorporating a morbidity predictive function was developed in the United Kingdom. Clinicians from several European countries volunteered to evaluate the package in their own clinical environment.

The package was run during consultations with patients in the UK, Portugal, Switzerland and Italy. Clinicians agreed on a need for local translations, local drug choices and guidelines to be developed. An emphasis on allergy, immunology and smoking cessation advice in asthma care in some countries highlighted a need to adapt country specific versions.

This International pilot study demonstrated that clinicians can learn from each other and work together around a common theme of implementing guidelines using decision support software.