title: Camp nursing: can children with asthma safely attend a regular outdoor day camp?
abstract: Although specialty camps are available nationwide for children with asthma, many families prefer to have their children attend regular camps. A retrospective descriptive study was undertaken to evaluate the needs of 156 children, ages 3-16 years, with asthma who attended a large, outdoor, nonspecialty, day camp in a suburban wooded setting. Findings indicate that 10.9% (n = 17) received scheduled daily asthma medication, and 12.2% (n = 19) required PRN asthma medication while attending camp. Twenty-one children (13.5%) presented, at least once, to the camp nursing office with respiratory complaints. Of a total of 35 visits to the camp nursing office for acute asthma problems, 20% (n = 7) required the child to leave camp. Nurses can encourage parents to learn about camp facilities and policies to enable them to carefully evaluate safety when considering a camp for their child with asthma.
authors.affiliation: Center of Research for Women, Children, and Families, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Bloch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000451:nursing* / Q000628:therapy; D002165:Camping; D002648:Child; D015400:Clinical Nursing Research; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012449:Safety