7) as they relate to clinical practice include:
(1) The use of a new stepwise approach to using asthma medications, an approach that puts a heavier emphasis on early use of anti-inflammatory medication.
(2) The identification of new classifications of asthma severity, each of which is linked to a variety of treatments and treatment alternatives.
(3) Prevention strategies associated with reducing exposures to environmental allergens and secondhand tobacco smoke.
(4) New ways for identifying specific allergens for each patient including performing allergy testing.
(5) Strategies for reducing exposures to these allergens.
(6) A heavier emphasis on teaching asthma self-management and prevention to patients.
Recommendations for more aggressive detection and treatment of asthma in children include:
(1) The inclusion of practical tools for physicians to help ensure that the guidelines are incorporated into actual practice. (e.g., sample questions to help in diagnosis and ongoing assessment and criteria for referral to specialty care).
(2) Coverage of the effects of cultural and ethnic influences on asthma management.
The goals of these guidelines are to reduce asthma-related illness and death and to enhance the quality of life of asthma patients. (National Institutes of Health, 1997). Clearly, one way in which it could be determined as to whether guidelines are meeting their goals would be to examine whether the use of the guidelines by physicians reduces the number of visits asthma patients make to asthma clinics for assistance with their condition. This research is designed to be such a study. Specifically, the research will seek to examine the efficacy of the guidelines by examining whether there is a relationship between the use of asthma guidelines by primary care physicians and the frequency of asthma clinic visits by children between the ages of 2-12 years.
In order to accomplish the stud...