A robust database is allowing primary care clinicians to get information to better diagnose and prevent asthma in children in Connecticut, according to a press release.
The database has allowed the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, which launched it, to inherit one of four 2012 National Environmental Leadership Awards in Asthma Management, for its Easy Breathing Program.
The program includes patient education and environmental interventions, and is used across the state to ensure that “comprehensive asthma care is available to the 105,000 children with asthma now enrolled in the program.”
The Easy Breathing Program was set up to help primary care clinicians diagnose and treat asthma in individuals using a systematic, standardized approach, modeled after National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) guidelines.
Getting the right care at the right time is crucial. There is no cure for the disease, but treatment can mitigate its symptoms. There’s nothing more frightening than trying to draw breath and not being able to. Every day in the US 44,000 people have an asthma attack, 36,000 kids miss school, 4,700 visit emergency rooms, 1,200 are admitted, and nine die, according to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America (AAFA).
The Easy Breathing Program was the first large-scale program in the country to demonstrate that clinicians can use NAEPP guidelines to improve the quality of asthma care.
The database, its most important element, is used for research and reporting and allows the center to “provide clinicians with demographical and other information relating to environmental exposures and asthma severity of children enrolled in the program,” according to the source.
More than ever before are now being diagnosed with asthma, according to AAFA, and it is one of the most common, costly diseases to treat. The annual economic cost of asthma, including costs from hospital stays and lost school and work days, adds up to about $56 billion.
"The City of Hartford – Connecticut's Capital City – has some of the greatest health disparities in the country, and with reported asthma rates nearing 20 percent and high asthma-mortality rates for both men and women, this recognition is well-deserved and I congratulate Connecticut Children's Medical Center on their service and commitment to Hartford and the State of Connecticut,” said Mayor Pedro E. Segarracon.
Edited by
Braden Becker
