The Initiating and Advancing Asthma Therapies: Improving Patient Care and Health Outcomes program focused on assessing asthma severity and control, prescribing treatment, and developing written asthma action plans that are in accordance with current guideline recommendations. The faculty specifically described the characteristics of available asthma treatments and the differences between short- and long-term therapeutic strategies. At what point primary care physicians should refer a patient to a pulmonologist was also discussed.

Patient education was also featured, too. Patient self-management is an important component of asthma care, and includes understanding if, when, and how to use medications, avoiding asthma triggers, and knowing when to seek medical care. You learned the importance of shared decision-making between patient and primary care physician, and ways to improve communication.

Faculty

David Mannino, MD
Epidemiology, Preventive Medicine & Environmental Health
Professor & Chair (Preventive Medicine & Environmental Health)
University of Kentucky
College of Public Health
Lexington, Kentucky

Barbara P. Yawn, MD, MSc
Director of Research Olmstead Medical Center
Adjunct Professor, Department of Family and Community Health
University of Minnesota
Rochester, Minnesota

Target audience

This activity was developed for family physicians, primary care physicians and other health care providers who manage and treat patients with medical conditions associated with allergy, asthma and immunology.

Learning objectives:

At the conclusion of this activity, participants should be better able to:

• Improve physicians’ ability to distinguish asthma from allergies and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Enhance clinicians’ skill level in the diagnosis of asthma
• Refine physicians’ understanding of the appropriate use of pharmacologic asthma therapies
• Increase physicians’ appreciation of the importance of patient education

Supported by an educational grant from Genentech.