Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating Personalized Education for Pediatric Patients Diagnosed With Asthma on an Observation Unit.

INTRODUCTION: A quality improvement project was commenced to determine if personalized, patient-specific education can increase parent/guardian knowledge and reduce subsequent emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient admissions secondary to asthma.

METHOD: Pre- and post-education survey scores were analyzed for a change in knowledge. A retrospective electronic health record (EHR) chart review was performed one year following the education to determine if the patients had additional ED visits or inpatient admissions.

RESULTS: A statistically significant increase in post-education survey scores (p = 0.004) and decrease in post-education inpatient admissions was found (p = 0.005). There was no significant difference between the number of pre- and post-education ED visits.

DISCUSSION: Asthma is a chronic medical condition that often requires life-long home management. These results revealed that parent/guardian knowledge regarding asthma can be increased and optimal home management improved by personalized, patient-specific education.