Primary care provider perceptions of an asthma home visiting program

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Healthcare
• Public Health Interventions
• Asthma Management

Background:

• Pediatric asthma home visiting programs are known to improve clinical outcomes.
• However, provider perceptions of these programs remain underexplored.
• Understanding provider perspectives is crucial for program sustainability and optimization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how primary care providers and medical home staff perceive a no-cost asthma home visiting program.
• To gather feedback for quality improvement of the existing program.

Main Methods:

• An anonymous online survey was administered to providers in 10 pediatric primary care offices.
• The survey, developed by program leaders, analytics team, and community health workers (CHWs), focused on program utility, patient impact, and CHW interaction.
• Data were collected from 21 out of 24 invited providers (88% response rate).

Main Results:

• Providers highly valued environmental assessment (95%), asthma education (91%), and addressing environmental issues (86%).
• Positive feedback was abundant, with suggestions for improving referral completion, post-visit communication, and patient identification.
• All surveyed providers indicated willingness to continue referring patients to the program.

Conclusions:

• Primary care providers and medical home staff perceive asthma home visiting programs as highly valuable.
• Key beneficial components include environmental assessment, education, and mitigation strategies.
• Opportunities for program enhancement exist in communication protocols and patient identification within medical records.