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Asthma Outreach Program

An Evidence-Based Practice

This practice has been Archived and is no longer maintained.

Description

Through this program, an Asthma Outreach Worker visited families in their homes at least once a month for the first 6 months of the project, and then at least once quarterly. A home assessment tool was developed for use by the Asthma Outreach Worker during home visits to assist in systematically evaluating the home environment. The Asthma Outreach Worker's role included providing social support and access to community resources, as well as assisting families with identifying and resolving the issues that could impede successful asthma management.

The program participants included 23 low-income children with moderate to severe asthma and their families at an inner-city pediatric clinic.

Goal / Mission

The goals of the project were to assess the feasibility of the Asthma Outreach Worker model and evaluate any impact on unscheduled health service use for asthma.

Results / Accomplishments

When comparing the intervention year to the preceding year for all participants, emergency department visits were significantly reduced (65% reduction, p=0.04) and scheduled asthma well visits to the clinic increased significantly (60% increase, p=0.01). Although not statistically significant, sick visits to the clinic were reduced by 45%, and total hospitalizations for the group were reduced by 56%.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Children's Hospital and Medical Center
Primary Contact
James W. Stout, M.D., M.P.H.
Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic
2101 Yesler Way
Seattle, WA 98122-5999.
http://www.odessabrown.org/index.php
Topics
Health / Children's Health
Health / Respiratory Diseases
Organization(s)
Children's Hospital and Medical Center
Source
Journal of Asthma
Date of publication
1998
Date of implementation
1995
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
Seattle
For more details
Target Audience
Children, Families
Miami-Dade Matters