Asthma
New! ACU iPhone Application on Pediatric Asthma
ACU’s first iPhone application on Pediatric Asthma and Indoor Trigger Management is now available free of charge in English and Spanish for your iPhone or iTouch. Go to the Apple App Store and search for and download the APPRISOR Viewer. From within the viewer, the APPRISOR content can be downloaded.
Detailed instructions:
1. Go the Apple App Store from the iPhone or iPod Touch and download APPRISOR.
2. Open APPRISOR; you will be prompted to tap the "..." button.
3. Choose "Download New Content."
4. After tapping "Download New Content," choose "Content by Association," then select ACU from the list.
5. Select from available documents and tap once to begin download.
6. Tap to open the document or continue to select and download documents.
Pediatric Asthma Indoor Air Quality Improvement Project
The ACU Pediatric Asthma Indoor Air Quality Improvement project was developed with support from the EPA, Indoor Environments Division. As part of the project, ACU developed a training curriculum, tool card and resource list which it updates regularly.
Training
ACU offers training for primary care providers and community workers on Realistic Measures for the Reduction of Indoor Asthma Triggers . Training is tailored to the needs of the audience and can be conducted in English or Spanish. Continuing professional education credit may be available. If you or your organization is interested in hosting a training session, please contact Lois Wessel, CNFP for more information and fees.
Asthma Indoor Trigger Reduction Tool Card
Explains the six C's of pedicatric asthma case management for clinicians and health workers providing guidance to assist patients in reducing indoor asthma triggers. Cultural, linguistic and practical realities are addressed. Includes a summary of key points and space for users to add local asthma advocacy contact information.
Asthma Indoor Trigger Reducation Tool Card (English) (PDF)
Control del asma pediátrica y los factores ambientales que la provocan dentro del hogar y
otros ambientes interiores (Spanish) (PDF)
Order laminated copies using the ACU order form (PDF).
The electronic version can be downloaded to a PDA (free of charge) at the Apprisor Website. See instructions above for downloading to an iPhone or iTouch.
Resources
Information and links to resources for clinicians and patients.
Article by Lois Wessel, ACU, and Jacqueline Spain, Holyoke Health Center; reprinted from Zero to Three.
Background
Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children in the US. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 9.3 percent of children under the age of 18 have asthma. Children of low-income families experience disproportionately higher morbidity and mortality due to asthma.
Indoor asthma triggers such as mold, dust mites, and cockroaches can contribute to asthma. According to the EPA, the average person spends 90 percent of their time indoors - so controlling indoor environmental triggers is integral in controlling asthma.
Asthma treatment following the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute guidelines consists of medication management, testing lung capacity, and developing partnerships with patients to educate them on reduction of triggers.
ACU's work in asthma education focuses the goal of developing effective partnerships with patients and their families to provide education that empowers families to reduce their trigger exposure.
ACU Training: Realistic Measures for the Reduction of Indoor Asthma Triggers
To promote reduction of indoor asthma triggers and the NHLBI guidelines, ACU developed a curriculum targeted to primary care providers serving low-income, underserved populations. The training focuses on teaching indoor air trigger reduction by incorporating the concepts of health literacy and cultural competency in asthma prevention education. It looks at individual triggers and discusses how families with limited financial resources can reduce those triggers in the home.
Developed with the guidance of an expert advisory committee, the training uses the Care Model as a framework to encourage a transdisciplinary approach to asthma care and team building between clinicians, consumers and community. The curriculum focuses on practical and realistic measures providers can offer to their patients for better control of environmental triggers of asthma, while remaining sensitive to cultural and linguistic issues.
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