Clinical trial NCT02481037: Primary Care Pathway for Childhood Asthma
Official title: Primary Care Pathway for Childhood Asthma
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Asthma
Lead sponsor: University of Alberta
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Alberta Innovates Health Solutions
name: Alberta Health Services, Calgary
name: Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA)
name: University of Calgary
name: Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
name: TELUS
First posted: 2015-06-25
Enrollment: 22
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 1
Maximum age (years): 17
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: At least half of children with asthma have poor disease control, which can result in complications requiring emergency treatment and hospitalization. As asthma is one of the most common reasons for children to visit emergency departments (ED) and be hospitalized, this disease places a heavy burden on the health care system and families. While there is strong evidence that timely treatment with preventative therapies can substantially improve asthma control, reduce sudden worsening of symptoms, and lower rates of ED visits and hospitalizations, a significant proportion of children do not receive these therapies.

The purpose of this study is to improve the prescription and use of evidenced-based preventative therapies for children with asthma with the goal to significantly improve their disease control and quality of life, while reducing unnecessary ED visits and hospitalizations. The investigators will achieve this by: i) installing a primary care clinical pathway for managing childhood asthma into clinicians' electronic medical record (EMR) to facilitate the use of best-evidence by practitioners, and ii) training chronic disease management (CDM) health professionals to provide targeted and timely asthma education to parents and children with asthma. The investigators will test this pathway and education project in a representative sample of 22 Alberta primary care practices, using a pragmatic cluster controlled trial methodology.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Validated diagnosis of asthma according to CPCSSN validated definition

Exclusion Criteria:

* Children under 1 and over 17 years of age
* Children of parents who have opted out of CPCSSN data collection
* Children with validated asthma who have not attended practices in the last 2 years, or have not received bronchodilator therapy in the last 12 months

Primary outcomes:
measure: Prescription of evidenced-based preventative therapies
timeFrame: 12 months after receiving intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Dispensed preventative therapies
timeFrame: 12 months after receiving intervention
measure: Emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma
timeFrame: 12 months after receiving intervention
measure: Electronic Medical Record (EMR) data
timeFrame: 12 months after receiving intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Edmonton
country: Canada
facility: University of Alberta
state: Alberta
Study officials:
affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta
name: Andrew Cave, FCFP, FRCGP
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Sharpe H, Potestio M, Cave A, Johnson DW, Scott SD. Facilitators and barriers to the implementation of the Primary Care Asthma Paediatric Pathway: a qualitative analysis. BMJ Open. 2022 May 12;12(5):e058950. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-058950.
citation: Cave AJ, Sharpe H, Anselmo M, Befus AD, Currie G, Davey C, Drummond N, Graham J, Green LA, Grimshaw J, Kam K, Manca DP, Nettel-Aguirre A, Potestio ML, Rowe BH, Scott SD, Williamson T, Johnson DW. Primary Care Pathway for Childhood Asthma: Protocol for a Randomized Cluster-Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2016 Mar 8;5(1):e37. doi: 10.2196/resprot.5261.