Pediatric Asthma Program

What is Asthma?

Asthma, also known as reactive airway disease, is defined as a chronic lung condition with:

• Inflammation (swelling) of the airways
• Increased sensitivity of the airways to a variety of things that make asthma worse
• Obstruction of airflow

Did You Know?

• Asthma is the number one chronic illness among children.
• An estimated 9 million children suffer from asthma in the United States
• It is estimated that one out of every six pediatric emergency room visit is due to asthma related problems.

Although the actual cause of asthma is not known, many studies have shown that several factors can lead to the development of asthma. These factors include a person's genetics, development and growth of the lungs and immune system, various infections and exposures in the environment.

Recognizing the signs and symptoms of asthma is a vital part of managing this disease. If severe symptoms are present, it's important to begin the appropriate treatment immediately. Accurate and timely assessment of your child's symptoms can help you and your clinician decide if treatment should at home, at your doctor's office or in the ED.
 

Examples of the early warning signs of asthma include:

• Breathing changes
• Sneezing
• Moodiness
• Headache
• Runny/stuffy nose
• Coughing
• Chin or throat itches 
• Feeling tired
• Dark circles under eyes
• Trouble sleeping
• Poor tolerance for exercise
• Downward trend in peak flow number

Asthma symptoms indicate that an asthma episode is occurring. Examples of asthma symptoms include:

• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Shortness of breath
• Tightness in the chest

WakeMed Pediatric Asthma Program

Asthma can be a controllable disease through educating asthmatic children and their families about methods to control and prevent asthma attacks.  The focus of our program is to improve management of asthma for children and families in Wake and surrounding counties by concentrating on comprehensive education.  The overall goals of the Pediatric Asthma Program are to:

• Decrease the need for hospitalizations related to asthma
• Decrease the need for emergency department visits related to asthma
• Decrease school absences
• Improve quality of life

Our Services

The Pediatric Asthma Program, funded through a Duke Endowment grant and a GlaxoSmithKline grant, is a service provided without charge to school age children (3 - 17) and their families. 

Our program provides individualized and group educational sessions Monday through Saturday in the pediatric area of the William F. Andrews Center for Medical Education at WakeMed.  We also offer pulmonary function testing and asthma knowledge assessments, as well as allergy skin testing for children with Medicaid.  There will be educational sessions scheduled for each child and his/her caregiver referred to our program. The sessions provide information related to asthma taken from the National Institute of Health guidelines, including a basic understanding of asthma, its triggers, environmental control, warning signs, medications, MDI use with spacer, nebulizer use and peak flow monitoring.  The WakeMed Asthma Program supplies each program participant with two peak flow meters and two spacers (one for home and one for school) free of charge.

Action Plan

During the education session, the patient and his/her family will receive an Asthma Management Plan, or Action Plan, directed by the child's pediatrician.  The Action Plan is a tool used to successfully manage the asthma by directing the child's actions during well periods as well as during an asthma episode.  The plan also serves as a communication tool between the health care provider, family, school and asthma team.  The goals of the Action Plan are to:

• Prevent asthma episodes or decrease their severity
• Direct the child's actions during an asthma episode
• Decrease visits to the Emergency Department
• Decrease hospitalizations
• Improve the child's quality of life

The Pediatric Asthma Program works in conjunction with the child's primary care physician and the local school systems. Click here for a copy of the physician referral form, which is required for participation in the Pediatric Asthma Program.  

The following websites can provide you with in-depth details about pediatric asthma, its causes, treatment options and resource information.

www.aaaai.org
www.aanma.org
www.lungusa.org
www.nhlbi.nih.gov

For more information about the WakeMed Pediatric Asthma Program, please call 919-350-6895.