Pediatric asthma case management: a review of evidence and an experimental study design.
Asthma is a complex disease that involves physiological, environmental, and psychosocial factors. This paper reviews childhood asthma case management by social service professionals, lay health workers, and nurses, and it presents a new randomized controlled study using nurse case management in a local community coalition. Evidence suggests the common factor for success involves case managers spending time contacting and patiently and persistently working with the family, thus building a trusting relationship. Although case management time is an expense for a health care payer, provider, and the child and family, the positive outcomes achieved can demonstrate the benefit of these interventions to all parties involved. The described experimental study assesses the cost and effectiveness of home-based nurse case management by a community coalition for children visiting an emergency department for asthma care.
Center for the Advancement of Urban Children, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital and Health System, Milwaukee, USA. aschulte@mail.mcw.edu
Amanda
A
Schulte
Jeanne
J
Musolf
John R
JR
Meurer
Jennifer H
JH
Cohn
Kevin J
KJ
Kelly
D001249:Asthma / Q000451:nursing* / Q000628:therapy; D019090:Case Management; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002669:Child Welfare; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D020380:Needs Assessment; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010371:Pediatric Nursing / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic