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Education of parents about paediatric asthma: effects of a protocol on medical consumption
Insights
A new asthma patient education protocol for general practitioners (GPs) significantly reduced medical care use in infants. This asthma management approach lowered GP visits and emergency care needs for children with asthma.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Primary Health Care
- Respiratory Medicine
Background:
- Asthma is a prevalent chronic condition in preschool children.
- Parental education is crucial for effective asthma management.
- General practitioners (GPs) play a key role in managing childhood asthma.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of an asthma patient education protocol implemented by GPs on medical care consumption in infants.
- To determine if structured asthma education influences healthcare utilization patterns.
Main Methods:
- A comparative study involving a treatment group (28 GPs, 47 infants) and a control group (18 GPs, 38 patients).
- Data on medical care utilization were collected retrospectively for 12 months before and after the intervention.
- Intervention involved GPs utilizing a specific asthma patient education protocol.
Main Results:
- Both groups had comparable baseline sociodemographic and asthma severity data.
- The treatment group demonstrated a statistically significant greater reduction in GP contacts compared to the control group.
- The treatment group also showed a significantly larger decrease in emergency physician visits post-intervention.
Conclusions:
- Implementing a structured asthma patient education protocol by GPs can effectively reduce healthcare utilization in preschool children with asthma.
- This educational intervention offers a potential strategy for optimizing primary care for pediatric asthma.
- Reducing medical care consumption through targeted education can lead to better resource management in pediatric asthma care.
Abstract:
Asthma is a very common chronic disease among preschool children in primary health care. Research has shown that planned and systematic patient education positively affects the management of asthma by parents. This study focuses on the question of whether an asthma patient education protocol that is used by general practitioners (GPs) has an effect on medical care consumption. The treatment group consisted of 28 GPs, representing 47 asthmatic infants. The control group contained 18 GPs, representing 38 patients. Data were collected from medical records (with a written instrument) for a 12-month period preceding and after the intervention period in which the education protocol was tested. Results indicated that sociodemographic variables and pretest data on asthma severity and medical care utilization were largely comparable for patients in both study groups. Furthermore, the treatment group showed a significantly greater decrease than the control group from pre- to post-test measurement in the number of contacts with the GP and the number of emergency visits to the physician's office.