The Promise of School-Based Asthma Interventions

PEDIATRIC ASTHMA IS one of the leading causes of school absenteeism. In our recent article, we described an evaluation of the Easy Breathing For Schools1 program, which provides school-nurse-led asthma management for students with asthma. Program elements include assessment of asthma risk and asthma control, asthma education, medication review, and a pediatrician communication tool. We employed a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the efficacy of the program, and demonstrated that enrolled students experienced a 25% decrease in absenteeism and improvement in inhaler technique compared to students with asthma not enrolled in the program. Importantly, 92% of the school nurses were satisfied with the program. In this progress report, we consider our study's findings in light of additional research published since we submitted our original report for publication on January 22, 2019, and discuss additional innovative delivery models, implementation strategies, and policies to improve asthma outcomes using school-based care.