Asthma Management Significantly Improved After Guideline Education Intervention

Increased registrars’ knowledge of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 2019 guidelines significantly improved treatment and management among children with mild asthma, a study found.

Wooden blocks spell ASTHMA | gustavofrazao - stock.adobe.com

These findings suggest that training on the GINA 2019 recommendations through conferences, workshops, and academic programs should be implemented to better control asthma in a pediatric care setting.

This quasi-interventional study is published in the Journal of Asthma and Allergy.¹

“In this study, we aimed to assess and improve the knowledge and practice about asthma ‎management among pediatric registrars to achieve better control of asthma,” wrote the researchers of the study. “Moreover, we applied an educational intervention to assess the difference in the knowledge level of asthma management pre-and post-intervention.”

The GINA guidelines are meant to improve asthma prevention and management in addition to raising awareness of the disease among medical professionals, public health officials, and the public.

“The GINA guidelines have existed for a while and implicate the treatment and management of asthma,” Dan Ouellette, MD, MS, FCCP, senior staff physician and director of the Respiratory Ward at Henry Ford Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine, told The American Journal of Managed Care^® in 2020.² “The GINA guidelines are updated periodically.”

The study was conducted at the Sudan Medical Specialization Board (SMSB) between April and September 2021, and included all registrars of the SMSB, residents from other states, and out-of-service registrars.

Data was collected using survey questions regarding the GINA 2019 classification of asthma severity and the GINA 2019 therapy recommendations for mild asthma. Prior to the education sessions, the questionnaire was given to the study participants to assess the improvement of registrar’s knowledge within 24 hours after intervention.

A total of 261 pediatric registrars were included in the analysis, including 141 (54%) residents aged 20 to 30 years old. Additionally, 203 (77.8%) of the registrars were female.

A significant improvement in mean (SD) overall knowledge score was observed from 8.1 (4.12) in the pre-intervention period to 18 (5.03) in the post-intervention period. Additionally, first-year registrars demonstrated significantly higher scores than their senior colleagues (P = .001). However, the registrars’ total knowledge scores did not differ significantly from one another during the pre-intervention period.

In the assessment of children aged 5 years and younger who were managed by step one, 251 (96.2%) of the residents correctly classified asthma in the pre-intervention phase compared with 257 (98.5%) in the post-intervention phase.

For the assessment of children aged 6 to 11 years who were managed by step one, 135 (51.7%) of the residents correctly classified asthma in the pre-intervention phase compared with 233 (89.3%) in the post-intervention phase.

In the assessment of patients aged 12 years and older who were managed by step one, 64 (24.5%) of the residents correctly classified asthma in the pre-intervention phase compared with 229 (87.7%) in the post-intervention phase.

However, the researchers noted that the effect of the educational intervention may have been overestimated due to non-randomization of the study.

Despite this limitation, the researchers believe the study supports the use of educational intervention on the GINA guidelines to improve knowledge on asthma and asthma management.

“The results of this study indicate that the educational intervention has succeeded in raising the knowledge of the residents about the international guidelines in asthma management,” wrote the researchers. “Presenting such sessions to registrars and physicians, in general, may ensure an improvement in asthma care.”

References

1. Abashar IBH, Salih OAMM, Joda TAA, et al. Assessment of the implementation of global initiative for asthma (GINA) 2019 guidelines for treatment of mild asthma among pediatric registrars: A quasi-interventional study. J Asthma Allergy. 2024;17:339-347
https://doi.org/10.2147/JAA.S442573

2. Dr Dan Ouellette: New Asthma Guidelines Help to Fill a Treatment Gap. The American Journal of Managed Care. Published October 20, 2020. Accessed April 30, 2024. https://www.ajmc.com/view/dr-dan-ouellette-new-asthma-guidelines-help-to-fill-a-treatment-gap