On the right track: Public health case management documents success in childhood asthma outcomes

Monterey County (CA) Health Department's Public Health Regional Team Childhood Asthma Case Management initiative has shown positive outcomes following asthma management education, monitoring, and medical follow-up. This initiative involves nurse home visitation and environmental assessment, asthma trigger and response education for parents/guardians, use of controller medication and dose compliance, and use of an Asthma Action Plan. The initiative evaluation focuses on 42 patients ages 0–17 years who were diagnosed with persistent asthma by their primary care physician. At three months post-intervention, analysis of 22 matched survey respondent results indicated: A 37% gain (from 31% to 68%) in the percentage of children who did not miss any school days due to asthma symptoms during the prior 3 months. A 25% gain (from 43% to 68%) in the percentage of children who did not visit the emergency department for treatment of asthma episodes during the prior 3 months. A 13% decrease (from 40% to 27%) in the percentage of children who visited the emergency department once or twice for treatment of asthma episodes during the prior 3 months. A 21% gain (from 33% to 54%) in the percentage of children who did not need to use asthma medications during the prior week. The evaluation will continue until 6-month post-intervention interviews have been conducted to determine to what degree the three month post-intervention improvements are sustained. Additional data analysis will determine if correlations exist between patient health outcomes and the number of clinical office visits kept during the post-intervention period, and to provide cost savings analysis.