Project BREATHE: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Pulmonology
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Public Health

Background:

• Asthma is a leading chronic illness in children, presenting significant healthcare burdens.
• Lack of standardized care in pediatric asthma management poses a challenge.
• The Project BREATHE toolkit was utilized to address these issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance pediatric asthma care through a quality improvement framework.
• To optimize patient outcomes and reduce healthcare utilization.
• To implement a standardized care process for pediatric asthma patients.

Main Methods:

• A transdisciplinary team developed a standardized asthma care process.
• The process was applied to all admitted asthma patients from July 2020 to June 2021.
• Monthly review of control charts assessed adherence and facilitated continuous improvement.

Main Results:

• Inhaled corticosteroid prescriptions increased from 50% to 81%.
• Subspecialist consults rose from 8.3% to 77%.
• Emergency department visits decreased from 5.2% to 4.7%, and hospitalizations from 12.7% to 10.1%.

Conclusions:

• A standardized, transdisciplinary asthma care process led to sustained improvements in pediatric asthma management.
• The implemented care process effectively reduced asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations.
• This structured, team-based approach is effective for optimizing pediatric asthma care.