Asthma

Understanding and Implementing the Latest Recommendations for Asthma Management
Understanding and Implementing the Latest Recommendations for Asthma Management 770 513 Emily Siebenmorgen

New guidelines for the care and treatment of asthma in children were released in 2020, but implementation has been slowed by the pandemic and need for education. An estimated 8% of children had asthma in 2020, and it continues to have a significant impact in the lives of many kids. It interferes with their sports…

How Does Allergic Disease Protect Against Developing Asthma After Viral Infection?
How Does Allergic Disease Protect Against Developing Asthma After Viral Infection? 1024 523 Mary Bates, PhD

Neutrophils and IL-4 are critical in preventing post-viral airway disease in mice with pre-existing allergic disease. In a new study, researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital show that in a mouse mode simulating human respiratory viral infection, pre-existing allergic disease prevents the development of asthma following viral infection. Further experiments revealed that this protection against post-viral…

Featured Researcher — Rodney Britt, PhD
Featured Researcher — Rodney Britt, PhD 150 150 Natalie Wilson

Rodney D. Britt Jr., PhD, is a principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University. Dr. Britt earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from North Carolina A&T State University and his doctorate degree in…

Even Severe Asthma Can Improve if Guidelines Are Followed
Even Severe Asthma Can Improve if Guidelines Are Followed 1024 683 Mary Bates, PhD

Patients treated with adequate medications and asthma family education can significantly improve irrespective of asthma severity. Severe asthma accounts for 5-8% of patients with asthma, but this group is more challenging to treat and is responsible for up to 40% of total asthma-care expenses. The majority of patients with severe asthma have difficult-to-treat asthma (in…

Increasing the Use of the Teach-Back Method in Asthma Education
Increasing the Use of the Teach-Back Method in Asthma Education 1024 575 JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM
Lisa Ulrich standing in hospital hallway

A standardized approach to asthma education using the teach-back method helps respiratory therapists effectively address common issues with asthma management in pediatric patients. For the 8% of children and adults in the United States who have asthma, effective asthma education is essential to adequate disease management. Unfortunately, written asthma action plans (AAP) alone may be…

Reducing Asthma-Related Emergency Department Visits
Reducing Asthma-Related Emergency Department Visits 480 320 Abbie Miller

Through serial interventions and teamwork, the initiative reduced asthma-related ED utilization rates by nearly 4% per year at a time when national rates were rising. Numerous studies have demonstrated that quality improvement (QI) methodologies improve asthma outcomes. However, moving that success from individual patients to a large population is challenging. In a recent study published…

QI Project Increases Value of Asthma Care in a Large Primary Care Network
QI Project Increases Value of Asthma Care in a Large Primary Care Network 1024 393 Kevin Mayhood

Multiple steps lead to better control of disease, fewer emergency department visits and $5 million in savings. A quality improvement project helped kids achieve better control of their asthma, reduced emergency room visits and cut costs in a primary care network serving 10,000 children with the disease. Through multiple steps, including standardizing assessments and documentation,…

Immune Cell Subtype Tied to Asthma in Mice Found in Humans With Viral Infections
Immune Cell Subtype Tied to Asthma in Mice Found in Humans With Viral Infections 969 533 Kevin Mayhood
Illustration of NK Cells, T Cells, other immune cells floating across white background

If asthma development in people parallels mice, the cells’ mechanisms may provide a target for disease prevention. A subtype of neutrophil, labeled CD49d+ PMN, which is necessary to drive asthma and allergies in a mouse model, also accumulates in the nasal fluid of people with symptoms of an upper respiratory viral infection, researchers have discovered. Neutrophils are…

Teens With Asthma: A High School Diploma Does Not Equal Readiness for Self-Management
Teens With Asthma: A High School Diploma Does Not Equal Readiness for Self-Management 150 150 David Stukus, MD

Poorly controlled asthma takes a toll on numerous aspects of health and life. Asthma is the leading pediatric chronic health condition, affecting approximately 10 percent of children and adolescents. Uncontrolled asthma can lead to acute exacerbations and need for emergency department visits or hospitalizations. A frequently unrecognized toll of poorly controlled asthma is the impact…

Great Minds Aren’t Thinking Alike About Asthma Care
Great Minds Aren’t Thinking Alike About Asthma Care 150 150 Brianne Moore

A recent audit of the Pediatric Hospital Information System using template matching finds wide variation in care provided to pediatric asthma patients. While asthma is a common and manageable disease, nine people still die from asthma each day. It is well known that asthma is the leading cause of pediatric hospitalization as well as the…

Become a Myth Buster: Use Evidence-Based Medicine to Change Clinical Care
Become a Myth Buster: Use Evidence-Based Medicine to Change Clinical Care 150 150 David Stukus, MD

Medical myths abound, even among good doctors. How are medical myths perpetuated and how can they be stopped? When was the last time you took a step back and questioned your medical decision making? Why did you decide to prescribe that treatment at that dosage and for that exact duration? Was that test truly necessary…

Racism in Our Hospitals and Communities: Everyone Matters
Racism in Our Hospitals and Communities: Everyone Matters 150 150 Kelly Kelleher, MD, MPH

Let’s touch all families by erasing racism from children’s hospitals. Here at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, we are engaged in an important new initiative: Everyone Matters. The idea is simple — we each have effects that ripple far beyond us through our everyday actions and attitudes toward each other, our patients and our community. Those effects can be…