Impact of Asthma Self-management on Pediatric Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations

Abstract

Asthma education is an essential component of asthma management. Studies indicate a decrease in emergency department visits and hospitalizations when patients or parents participate in asthma self-management education programs. Because of time constraints, programs are often not offered or attended. Furthermore, variation among programs makes it difficult to generalize findings from one program to another. The purpose of this study was to compare the number of children who experienced an asthma-related emergency department visit and/or hospitalization between those whose parents attended a short, group-based, inpatient asthma self-management education program and those whose parents did not attend. A retrospective, comparative, descriptive study was conducted. Subjects consisted of a convenience sample of 298 children (attended, n = 126; did not attend, n = 172) admitted to a New England children’s hospital in 2006 with a primary diagnosis of asthma. Data from 2 hospital databases were collected for 12 months after attendance or nonattendance to the program. To compare the groups, basic descriptive statistics were followed by χ² tests. There were no significant differences between the group whose parents attended the program and the group whose parents did not attend with regard to emergency department visits (attended, n = 36; did not attend, n = 54; P = .600) and hospitalizations (attended, n = 18; did not attend, n = 36; P = .141). Results support modifying the short, group-based inpatient asthma self-management education program examined in this study to include additional self-efficacy building strategies that promote enhanced self-management.