Impact of Asthma 101 Training on Level of Nursing Students’ Knowledge

Abstract

The Asthma 101 training, developed by the American Lung Association, was offered in 2009 to 93 senior bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) students. It was offered again in 2010 to 65 senior BSN students enrolled at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, Texas. The training included both a pretest and posttest to evaluate changes in level of knowledge. Nursing students who were trained in 2009 participated in an asthma study offering asthma education to local elementary and middle schools students and their parents. The goal of Asthma 101 training was to educate nursing students so that they could provide general information about asthma to elementary school children and their parents, which could be done in a variety of settings such as health fairs and in classrooms. Test results for those who received the 2009 training showed an improvement in their knowledge about asthma. More than 95% of participants were very or somewhat satisfied with the Asthma 101 training. Test results in 2010 showed a significant improvement in participants’ knowledge in 2 areas: taking asthma medications to prevent an asthma episode (P = .001) and occurrence of asthma symptoms (P = .016). Two questions of statistical significance related to the use of medications and asthma episode demonstrated that nursing students had increased their knowledge in these areas. These findings suggest that health professionals can acquire additional knowledge from a brief yet focused training, such as the Asthma 101 training outlined in this article.