Outcomes of Easy Asthma Clinic in Yangtalad Hospital

Abstract

Background: Asthma is an increasingly important problem for Thailand public health system.  It causes poor life quality leading to morbidity end mortality.  Recognizing such impact, we provided the patients with an easy asthma clinic in Yangtalad Hospital, Kalasin Province.

Objectives: To describe the outcomes of easy asthma clinic in Yangtalad Hospital.

Study design: Retrospective descriptive study

Setting: Yangtalad Hospital, Kalasin Province, Thailand

Subjects: We included all asthma patients aged more than15 years old and had come for continuous treatment in Yangtalad Hospital.

Method: Variables of interest were obtained from the medical record including In-patient records, Out-patient records and Easy asthma clinic records. This study compared the outcomes between 1 June 2003- 31 May 2004  and  1 June 2004 - 31 May 2005 and 1 June 2005 - 31 May 2006. All patients were trained and  received education from Easy Asthma Clinic team and pharmacist.

Statistics: Statistical analysis was performed using STATA version 8. Categorical data were presentage and comparison of percentage between groups was made by Chi-square test.

Results: One hundred and three  patients were enrolled in this study. The result showed that physicians could use more appropriate asthma management guidelines, from 27.0% in 2004 compared with 100% in 2006. The number of patients who used the inhaler correctly increased from 27.2% in 2004 to 94.2% in 2006 (P<0.05). The emergency admission rate was reduced from 0.76 visit/person/year in 2004 to 0.31 visit/person/year in 2006 (P<0.05). In addition, hospitalization rate was reduced from 0.85 visit/person/year in 2004 compared with 0.23 visit/person/year in 2006 (P<0.05). Moreover, the proportion of patients who re-admitted within 28 days was lower in the last phase compared with the first phase, 4.8% in 2004 compared with 0.9% in 2006 (P<0.05). Proportion of patients who had achieved control stage increased from 15.5% in 2005 to 18.4% in 2006. All patients who attended this clinic could reduce the severity of an asthma attack, and had normal life. The data do not show positive correlation in respect to the total cost of treatment and treatment outcomes.

Conclusion: This study revealed the favorable outcomes of Easy Asthma Clinic, in Yangtalad hospital, which could improve  the asthma treatment outcome and quality of life of asthmatic patients. We believe that this clinic could be used as a model for asthma management by other hospitals.

Keyword: Easy Asthma Clinic, Outcomes, Hospitalization, Re-admission, Yangtalad Hospital.