Background
This study trialled the outcome for
asthma patients of a brief, nurse led,
patient education session with general
practice review of an Asthma Action Plan.
Discussion
Structured general practice based
education appears to be an effective
preventive health care program, with
the potential to reduce expensive
unscheduled use of health services.
Results
Eighty-three patients participated. Mean
asthma control score decreased but
did not reach statistical significance
(p=0.124). Quality of life improved for
adults (Wilcoxon rank signed test for
two related samples p<0.001). The
proportion of patients who had one or
more unscheduled visits to their general
practitioner over 12 months decreased
from 23% to 13% (p=0.178) and
emergency department presentations
decreased from 9% to 4% (p=0.102).
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