In 1996, more than 60 of the 89 hospitals in the area responded, including small and large, urban and suburban, and teaching and nonteaching hospitals. A random sample of 405 primary care physicians also was surveyed, and 60 percent responded. Some of the survey findings follow. There are 19,000 asthma hospitalizations in the Chicago area annually.
Few hospitals have community-based asthma programs.
There are more than 70,000 asthma ED visits in the Chicago area annually. Most EDs provide little formal asthma education to patients. Two-thirds of all asthma care in the Chicago area is provided by PCPs. The survey results show that although many clinicians are providing excellent asthma care, there are considerable variations. Although the survey examined asthma care practices in Chicago, Dr. Weiss believes that the results probably reflect practices in many areas.