Successes and Opportunities to Adopting Evidence-Based Practices to Improve Asthma Care in New Orleans

Abstract

Pediatric asthma is a multifactorial disease, requiring complex, interrelated interventions that target children, families, schools, health care providers, and communities. This article describes components of the Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL), phase II project, a collaboration between community and medical facilities for children with asthma in New Orleans. HEAL phase II extends and builds on the lessons learned from HEAL I, a post-Katrina research project, an observational study directed by Tulane University Health Sciences Center and the New Orleans Department of Health. HEAL phase II offers an opportunity to understand, from a health system’s perspective, how factors associated with the health care setting, patient-family, health care provider, asthma education, and community work together to create optimal conditions that support pediatric asthma care in New Orleans. In this context, this article will discuss factors contributing to health disparities in asthma; the need for a multidisciplinary approach to address health disparities in asthma; and describe the 4 key components of the HEAL phase II project: health care providers, integration of asthma education by certified asthma educators into clinical settings, utilization of electronic medical records to improve portability of asthma data, and community outreach.