Effectiveness of a nurse-managed program for children with chronic asthma.

Abstract

Abstract Twenty-one asthmatic children, aged 15 months to 13 years and from low-income families, who used the emergency room as their primary source of asthma care, were evaluated by the physicians of the Pediatric Allergy Division at baseline. These children were then randomly assigned to either a control group or a clinical nurse specialist group. All children were scheduled for follow-up in the hospital clinic with pediatric residents and staff (control group) or with the clinical nurse specialist (CNS). After assessing individual family needs, the CNS counseled each family regarding preventive health measures, focusing on early recognition of asthma exacerbations and self-care. During the 12-month study period, the frequency of allergy physician contacts and the total number of outpatient department visits were similar in both groups. However, compared with the 12-month period prior to enrollment, the CNS group subjects demonstrated a significant reduction in the frequency of emergency room (ER) visits (2.6 ± 1.1 versus 0.6 ± 0.9 ER visits per patient; p