title: Primary Care Pathway for Childhood Asthma: Protocol for a Randomized Cluster-Controlled Trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Asthma is the most common chronic condition in children. For many, the disease is inadequately controlled, which can burden the lives of children and their families as well as the health care system. Improved use of the best available scientific evidence by primary care practitioners could reduce the need for hospital care and improve quality of life and asthma control, thereby reducing overall costs to society and families.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The Primary Care Pathway for Childhood Asthma aims to improve the management of children with asthma by (1) providing primary care practitioners with an electronic guide (a clinical pathway) incorporated into the patient's electronic medical record, and (2) providing train-the-trainer education to chronic disease management health professionals to promote the provision of asthma education in primary care.
  
  
  METHODS
  The research will utilize a pragmatic cluster-controlled design, quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and economic evaluation to assess the implementation of a pathway and education intervention in primary care. The intervention will be analyzed for effectiveness, and if the results are positive, a strategy will be developed to implement delivery to all primary care practices in Alberta.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The research has been successfully funded and ethics approvals have been obtained. Practice recruitment began fall 2015, and we expect all study-related activities to be concluded by March 2018.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proposed pathway and education intervention has the potential to improve pediatric asthma management in Alberta. The intervention is anticipated to result in better quality of care for equal or lesser cost.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02481037; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02481037 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6fPIQ02Ma).
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. andrew.cave@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8148-4454
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cave
authors.forename: Heather
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5223-5085
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sharpe
authors.forename: Mark
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3912-9242
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anselmo
authors.forename: A Dean
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1611-2897
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Befus
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4681-9893
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Currie
authors.forename: Christina
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6508-7296
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Davey
authors.forename: Neil
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6308-8319
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Drummond
authors.forename: Jim
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3725-5037
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Lee A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1789-7366
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8015-8243
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grimshaw
authors.forename: Karen
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6374-4857
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kam
authors.forename: Donna P
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6073-7715
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Manca
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6604-0652
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nettel-Aguirre
authors.forename: Melissa L
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0768-309X
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Potestio
authors.forename: Brian H
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3446-2097
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Shannon D
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2251-3742
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5029-2345
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: David W
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8453-7849
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Johnson
keywords: asthma; asthma education; child; chronic disease management; clinical pathway; primary care