February - March 2010

Asthma Action Plan Touted as a CDC Success Story

More than 40,000 local children have been diagnosed with asthma according to recent statistics. Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services Center for Health Statistics also show nearly 800 hospital admissions took place in 2005 due to pediatric asthma in Bexar County.

To address this potential health threat, Steps to a Healthier San Antonio (Steps-SA)* teamed up with the San Antonio Independent School District and the South Texas Asthma Coalition (STAC) and created an asthma action plan program in 2005 to help students manage their asthma while at school. It's an initiative that has captured the attention of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for three consecutive years.

The Asthma Action Plan (AAP) is an asthma treatment plan. Both Metro Health and STAC encourages parents to make sure an AAP is on file at their child's school. These plans are completed by each student’s personal physician, detailing instructions on how the child’s symptoms should be treated on a regular basis and also in the event of an emergency.

The program works by a parent asking the school nurse or pediatrician for an asthma action plan form for their child. The child's doctor then completes the asthma medicine plan with instructions detailing what medicine, when, and how often it should be administered to their patient depending on the severity of the student's symptoms. The nurse at the student’s school then will know exactly how to treat the child as quick and effectively as possible.

This year, the program expanded to include every school district in San Antonio as well as some private schools and outlying districts. The intended result of the AAP is to reduce acute care visits and, ultimately, improve an asthmatic's ability to enjoy basic everyday activities.

The AAP project also involves a training session for school nurses, respiratory therapists, and nurse practitioners to review proper clinical assessment and medication delivery devices as well as the use of the asthma action plans and asthma equipment.

The asthma action plan is an excellent way to improve communication between parents, the family doctor and the school nurse allowing everyone to work together to provide the best care for each individual student.

The AAP also has garnered the attention of the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) as well as CDC, which highlighted it as a success story in 2007 and two consecutive years afterwards. NACCHO featured the AAP in its publication, Building Healthy Communities: Lessons Learned from CDC’s Steps Program.

*Steps to a Healthier San Antonio (Steps-SA) is a program that encourages good nutrition, increased physical activity, and smoking prevention or cessation to help reduce diabetes, obesity, and asthma in San Antonio.

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