Asthma affects nearly five million children in the United States. In spite of new proven treatment modalities, the morbidity and mortality has increased in the past decade. In 1991 NIH developed practice management guidelines. It was hoped that the wide dissemination of this information might improve the care of asthma. Studies have demonstrated however, that the guidelines were not well known and not widely used. In 1997 the guidelines were revised and updated. The proposed study will examine the present attitudes and feelings about utilization of the guidelines with emergency physicians, emergency nurses, pediatricians, respiratory care specialists, and parents; and explore educational methods that might be developed in Phase II to promote the use of these practice management guidelines. Focus groups of physicians, nurses, RTs, and parents will be held in diverse geographic locations to determine current perceptions and feelings about the guidelines, barriers to their use, and the best educational methods and outreach strategies to promote knowledge utilization. Phase I will produce the focus group report, a critical review of the guidelines, a content outline for the educational media to be used, and a strategy for optimizing information dissemination and knowledge utilization.
Thesaurus Terms: asthma, child (0-11), education evaluation /planning, health care personnel education, health care policy, health care quality, information dissemination, patient care management patient care planning health services research tag, human subject
