Use of asthma actions plan by Massachusetts school nurses

Joint Event on 29^th International Conference on Pediatric Nursing & Healthcare & 31^st World Congress on Advanced Nursing Practice

August 16-17, 2018 | Madrid, Spain

Kathleen Pender Phaneuf

University of Massachusetts, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Adv Practice Nurs

Abstract :

Asthma is a chronic illness, accounting for 10 million school days missed each year. The asthma action plan guides asthma management in school settings. School nurses play a critical role in pediatric asthma management and are a major resource in identifying key barriers and facilitators (supports) to its use. The purpose of this study was to describe facilitators and barriers to use of the asthma action plan in four multi-ethnic and diversely populated regions of Massachusetts schools, and the results indicated that there were a few barriers to implementation. School nurses perceived significant support within their community; only one region reported a significant difference in the use of the asthma action plan. More than half of the school nurses reported only using the asthma action plan rarely or sometimes; further study is needed to explore the low use of asthma action plan despite few perceived barriers and determine if continual use results in fewer missed school days.

Biography :