Pediatric asthma pathway in the emergency room

Asthma is one of the leading causes of hospital admission in the pediatric population. Standardization of asthma management guidelines for patients admitted to the emergency department has been suggested to improve care delivery and patient outcomes. Utilizing a multidisciplinary asthma task force at a single academic medical center, we sought to determine if a protocol-driven approach to implementation of care for patients with asthma could improve patient outcomes by reducing wait times for administration of steroids. A prospective cohort study examined the use of a standardized asthma pathway over a 2-year period compared to historical controls. Pathway use significantly decreased time to corticosteroid administration (45 vs. 29 min [year 1] and 20 min [year 2]; P < 0.0001). By implementing this standard of care at pediatric emergency departments, time to treatment can be decreased, therefore improving the morbidity and mortality of pediatric patients with asthma nationwide.