Telemedicine Enhanced Asthma Management Through the Emergency Department

Summary

In the US, children from minority ethnic and racial backgrounds suffer disproportionately from asthma and account for substantially more emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations than non-minority children. While NHLBI guidelines recommend daily preventive medications for all children with persistent asthma to prevent morbidity as well as ED visits and hospitalizations, many children who should receive preventive medications are not receiving them. This is in part because children presenting to the ED for an acute asthma exacerbation rarely receive preventive asthma care, due to the ED's focus on acute, episodic care. The NHLBI guidelines recommend that children follow-up with a primary care provider (PCP) within 1-4 weeks of the ED visit. The post-ED follow-up visit is an opportunity for the PCP to prescribe effective preventive asthma medications, step-up medication for children who demonstrate poor control, promote adherence, and provide education on asthma self-management and trigger control. However, rates for follow-up after an asthma-related ED visit are extremely low, and preventive care is delivered inconsistently even when children are seen in follow-up. In the investigators' prior work they have found that a provider prompting intervention can enhance the delivery of guideline-based preventive asthma treatments at the time of a primary care office visit and ultimately reduce morbidity. They have also found that telemedicine can link children with persistent asthma to a provider for optimal chronic illness management. The goal of this project is to use a novel telemedicine-based program to facilitate primary care follow-up and promote the delivery of guideline-based preventive care for high-risk children presenting to the ED for an asthma exacerbation. The investigators will utilize a 2-group randomized trial to test the TEAM-ED intervention. The intervention includes: 1) a telemedicine assessment at the child's school within one week of discharge from the ED and completed by a PCP, 2) 'point-of-care' prompting to promote the provision of guideline-based preventive care during the telemedicine visit, and 3) two additional telemedicine-assisted follow-up assessments to assure optimal response to treatment and tailor the care regimen as needed. The investigators will assess the effectiveness of the program in reducing respiratory morbidity and improving preventive asthma care, with follow-up assessments at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.

Conditions

• Asthma

Interventions

OTHER

TEAM-ED

Facilitation of preventive asthma management through telemedicine assessment and follow-ups in addition to guideline-based provider prompting

OTHER

Enhanced Usual Care

Report of symptoms to primary care physician

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Rochester

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• JIll Halterman, MD, MPH · University of Rochester

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

3 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-12-15

Primary Completion

2022-07-12

Completion

2022-07-12

Countries

• United States

Study Locations