Aspects of Asthma

Asthma is a seriously debilitating condition. Higgins (1997), in a report for the United States Department of Health and Human Services, stated that approximately four million children and eight million adults in the United States suffer from the effects of asthma; this figure translates to roughly 5 percent of the total population of America. Higgins (1997) also notes that this percentage is increasing.

In addition to the foregoing, asthma accounts for total annual care costs of more than $6 billion dollars per year in America as well as 15 million physician visits per year (one third of which are made by persons under age 20 years), and over 100 million days of restricted activity. Nearly 5,000 people die from asthma episodes each year, and hundreds of thousands more suffer frightening episodes of coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and loss of breath (Higgins, 1997).

One way in which the medical system has responded to this dire health problem has been the development of national and international guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma patients (see: National Institutes of Health, Updated Asthma Guidelines, 1997). These guidelines provide clinicians with several recommendations which are organized into four components of therapy: measures of assessment and monitoring, control of factors contributing to asthma severity, pharmacologic therapy, and education for a partnership in asthma care. The recommendations were formulated based on curre

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nsively discussed in the next chapter of the study. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical/Conceptual Framework Why is it important to study the degree to which physicians comply with recommended guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma? The purpose of the literature review presented in this chapter of the study is to provide several reasons why physician-compliance with asthma guidelines is an important area of study and to examine empirical research that has assessed physician-compliance and physician-compliance related phenomena in order to get an understanding of the extent to which physicians might be currently practicing these guidelines as well as any barriers to this practice. Finally, the review will delineate the basic guidelines used to manage pediatric asthma in New York City. Importance of Compliance According to the National Institute of Health (1997), physician compliance with recommended asthma guidelines will result in reducing both the number of asthmatic episodes experienced by their patients and the mortality rate associated with the condition. The importance of this fact is especially salient when one considers certain statistics such as the fact that in the United States alone, asthma aff

Category: Medical - A