Oral

Poor and racial-ethnic minority children are disproportionately impacted by asthma. Asthma prevalence rates in low-income and minority communities are higher than typical for the nation. Children with asthma in these communities are more likely to seek asthma care in an emergency room and to be hospitalized. These disparities are especially dramatic in Washington DC. Our first presentation will describe a DC-wide model to coordinate asthma care and reduce disparities through an asthma registry that would include asthma action plans for all children treated for asthma. The need for legislation to improve asthma management at school will also be discussed. Another legislative model, from Massachusetts, will be presented next. This model would enhance the availability of patient education and home-based environmental interventions. Our next presentation will highlight a Boston MA model of care that includes nurse case management, home visits, and community connections for comprehensive asthma education. The development of a state-wide strategy based on the NHLBI asthma guidelines in Minnesota will be discussed next. Finally, a California model to use a systems approach to change environmental asthma policies will be presented.

Session Objectives: At the end of this presentation, participants will: • Learn a community-wide strategy to address asthma disparities • Better understand how policy change can affect health outcomes • Be able to link policy strategy to public awareness campaign on asthma • Be able to list the quality improvement indicators used to evaluate a program to enhance asthma care • Recognize the components of a state asthma plan from a public health perspective. • Be able to define and discuss the types of systems change concepts that are important for communities to use in planning and implementing environmental (and other) policies

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing