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Asthma Education Desktop Prompt

The following desktop prompt has been used extensively by GPs, practice nurses and asthma educators in Wellington and surrounding areas. Adapted from an original document provided by Barbara Scott of WIPA

  1. Four questions to assess asthma control:
    1. When did you last use your blue reliever inhaler more than three times a week?
    2. Do you wake wheezing at night?
    3. Has your activity level changed because of your breathing?
    4. Where do you keep your reliever inhaler?
  2. When was the child’s last episode of asthma education?
  3. Does the child understand:
    1. Their asthma?
    2. Where their asthma medication works, i.e., relievers relax the airway muscle, preventers work on the inflammation and swelling inside the airways. (What tools have you got to describe this to your patients?)
    3. The importance of using their medication appropriately?
    4. When their asthma is deteriorating?
  4. Assess reliever use, i.e., type, technique,* frequency.
  5. Assess preventer use.*
  6. Assess symptom controller use (symptom controller is the term applied to long acting beta-2 agonists or LABA).*
  7. Does the child have an asthma management plan?
    1. Is it current?
    2. Do they follow it?
  8. Ensure the child or cargiver is given appropriate written information and a follow-up appointment.
  9. Refer for comprehensive asthma education.

*Ask the child or caregiver to show you how they use the device