title: Quality of self-care of patients with asthma.
abstract: In order to assess the quality of self-care of asthmatic patients in family practice, 150 patients were asked what they did when they felt an attack of asthma coming on. Twenty-four percent said they took no medication. Of the remaining 114 patients, only 49 took appropriate medication. Of these, however, most were not able to demonstrate correct use of their inhaler. This poor quality of self-care may contribute to the undertreatment of asthma in family practice. To improve the quality of care of asthmatic patients, comprehensive treatment is recommended, with the emphasis on improving self-care skills.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Practice, University of Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: F W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Dekker
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kaptein
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van der Waart
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gill
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012648:Self Care