title: Impact of Physician Asthma Care Education on patient outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the effectiveness of a continuing medical education program, Physician Asthma Care Education, in improving pediatricians' asthma therapeutic and communication skills and patients' health care utilization for asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a randomized trial in 10 regions in the United States. Primary care providers were recruited and randomly assigned by site to receive the program provided by local faculty. The program included 2 interactive seminar sessions (2.5 hours each) that reviewed national asthma guidelines, communication skills, and key educational messages. Format included short lectures, case discussions, and a video modeling communication techniques. We collected information on parent perceptions of physicians' communication, the child's asthma symptoms, and patients' asthma health care utilization. We used multivariate regression models to determine differences between control and intervention groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 101 primary care providers and a random sample of 870 of their asthma patients participated. After 1 year, we completed follow-up telephone interviews with the parents of 731 of the 870 patients. Compared to control subjects, parents reported that physicians in the intervention group were more likely to inquire about patients' concerns about asthma, encourage patients to be physically active, and set goals for successful treatment. Patients of physicians that attended the program had a greater decrease in days limited by asthma symptoms (8.5 vs 15.6 days), as well as decreased emergency department asthma visits (0.30 vs 0.55 visits per year).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Physician Asthma Care Education program was used in a range of locations and was effective in improving parent-reported provider communication skills, the number of days affected by asthma symptoms, and asthma health care use. Patients with more frequent asthma symptoms and higher health care utilization at baseline were more likely to benefit from their physician's participation in the program.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA michael.cabana@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Cabana
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Slish
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Mellins
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Randall W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Xihong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Niko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaciroti
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Noreen M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000266:history*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000193:education / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States
keywords: asthma knowledge; educational intervention; pediatric providers