School Based Peak Flow Education and Monitoring

Paper

Saturday, 22 July 2006

This presentation is part of : Studies and Models for Child and Adolescent Health Issues

Marie DeSisto, MSN, RN, Waltham Public Schools, Waltham, MA, USA, Joyce A. Pulcini, PhD, RN, FAAN, Connell School of Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA, and Lynne McIntyre, PhD, RN, Statistics and Evaluation, Center for Community Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

Learning Objective #1: determine the effectiveness of school nurse feedback on children's peak flow readings to the primary care provider influences receipt of Asthma Action Plans.
Learning Objective #2: discuss the importance of interprofessional communication between school nurses and primary care providers.

Theoretical Framework: A logic model developed to measure outcomes of School Nursing services for students with asthma.
Methods (Design, Sample, Setting, Measures, Analysis):
Design: Quasi-experimental nonequivalent groups design.
Sample: Two groups of 25 middle school students from 5 school districts. In each district, 5 students in each of two middle schools were assigned to either the experimental or control group.
Method: The School Nurse (SN) scheduled meetings with students on a daily basis for two weeks. During the initial visit, the SN gave student participants in the experimental group a peak flow meter and educate on correct technique. Over the two-week period, the SN continued to verify that the student was using the peak flow meter correctly and students graphed the results with help from the school nurse. The peak flow data was collected for two weeks and forwarded to the student's parent and the primary care provider (PCP). The control group received standard SN care during the same period of time. For both groups a request was made for an Asthma Action Plan (AAP) from the PCP. The number of AAPs received from the PCP were recorded by the SN in November and December 2005 and will be reported as a total number in January 2006.
Results: Currently being tablulated and will be presented at the conference.
Conclusions and Implications: This study will inform SN practice on effectiveness of providing feedback to PCPs on peak flow readings for students with asthma. Care for children with asthma is enhanced when the PCP and the SN communicate optimally on treatment.

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