The Influence of Asthma on the Lives of Students

Asthma is the leading cause of chronic illness in children and is responsible for nearly 10% of the Emergency Room visits for children <15 year of age. It occurs in as many as 10%-12% of children in the United States and is gradually growing. Asthma can begin at any age , but most children have their first symptoms by age five. Because Camp Wapiti is for children ages 8-13 exclusively, this report will focus primarily on childhood asthma.

Childhood asthma is a growing healthcare issue in the United States. It is a common childhood medical disorder that affects approximately 7.1 million children under the age of 18. It is estimated that 4.1 million of this population suffered from an asthma episode in 2011 (American Lung Association, [ALA], 2014). Interestingly, children make up less than 20% of the United States population; however, it estimated that 29 % of hospitalization discharges were contributed to children with asthma who are under the age of 15.

Since asthma exacerbations in adolescence can lead to emergency room visits, hospitalizations, missed school and diminished health status, there was an evident need for effective asthma management for this population (Quaranta et al., 2014). Unfortunately, these rural adolescents with asthma, and their families, had difficulty determining when their asthma was poorly controlled; and unless the asthma symptoms were disruptive to family life, there was often little motivation for these individuals to seek medical care, thus increasing the risk of poor outcomes (Quaranta et al., 2014, p. 99). According

About 10% of American children have asthma (Thakur et al., 2013). It is vital to understand what determinants cause childhood asthma to understand even with a low percentage, why it is still present. According to Williams et al., asthma is a health outcome which is a major impact on American youth (Williams et al., 2009). This health outcome not only impacts them throughout the years of being a child, but it has the potential of creating more serious health problems in the future. And without knowing what the causes are, it increases the rate asthma among children and prevents treatments from being implemented. It needs to be addressed by using results from prior studies in order to show how much of a problem childhood asthma is but also in finding and understanding the other underlying

Communication barriers exist between parent, school nurse, and healthcare provider. School staff feel unprepared for asthmatic attacks, especially since they are not told which students have a condition. No policies or protocols are in place to guide staff in what to do when a situation occurs. Staff are unsure when a student is responsible enough to be self-reliant. Limitations include, not having a representative sample from all the school districts. Also, only two healthcare providers answered questionnaires and they were from the same medical centers hosting study. In addition, participants were paid $30 for their time, which could influence who

I. Introduction: Looking at Asthma and breaking it down to fully understand the chronic disease.

Discuss the prevalence of asthma in certain patient populations that you might see in primary care. Asthma is chronic airway inflammation disorder that is characterized by persistent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and non-productive cough, mainly at night and in the early morning. The inflammation of the airway results from physical, chemical, and pharmacologic stimulus, which causes bronchial hyper-responsiveness, constriction of the airways, edema of airway wall, and chronic airway remodeling (Cash, 2014). Asthma occurs at all ages, with about 50% of all cases developing during childhood and another 30% before age 40. In the United States, it is estimated that 25 million people have asthma and the prevalence continues to increase (McCance, & Huether, 2014). Previously, asthma was considered

Prevention of asthma is not the focus of interventions since it is not a preventable disease, but rather the focus is to intervene with the management of the disease. There are some protective factors that can be employed so that the occurrence of asthma attacks is reduced, or at least, well managed. Once someone has been identified as having asthma, the goal is to manage it well so that there are as few asthma attacks as possible. In 2008, the National Asthma Control Initiative (NACI) was created. The goal of creating the NACI is to have the ability to work with different partners throughout the community to successfully put asthma guidelines into action beginning with the home and moving out into the community, which may include schools, health care settings, as well as other parts of the community. (National Asthma Control Initiative [NACI], 2011).

Childhood asthma is important community and public health issue in Florida. “Asthma is the third-leading cause of childhood preventable hospitalization in the U.S., and these children are frequent consumers of other healthcare facilities such as emergency rooms, clinics, and private medical practices (Davis, Gordon & Burns, 2011).” Collaboration needs to be made between healthcare professionals, school office staff and the residential area in order to create a healthy environment for children with asthma where they can learn, grow, and develop to be able to fully participate in school activities. Implementing an asthma friendly school is the key to help children succeed as well as improve their quality of life. By doing so, both asthma emergencies and absenteeism from school can be reduced. With the reduction in number of days children are absent, there will be an increase in student learning. This may also increase the school income, while improving the quality of life for students. The ultimate goal for success is to an asthma friendly school environment for students.

The overall project goal was to lessen the asthma burden and improve health outcomes for asthmatic children and their families. Home health workers conducted household safety assessments, provided asthma prevention education and targeted environmental interventions to reduce indoor triggers and allergens. The study showed a significant improvement in the health during the 11-12 month follow up period, which essentially led to an increase in annual savings due to a decrease in emergency medical expenses. Despite findings in their favor, the follow-up period was too short. In order to build a stronger case, the follow up period should be on-going to measure long-term success.

The article reviewed exposures that could lead to the risk of severe asthma. The article proposed the way to reduce the risk of severe asthma, however it also mentioned that further analyses is required to fully understand this issue. Having a group of candidates with mild to moderate asthma participate in a study designed to reduce the risk of severe asthma is not ideal to say the

Asthma is a common chronic disease worldwide affecting 1 in every 10 individuals, approximating to 2.3 million individuals in Australia (Asthma Australia, 2014). The aetiology of asthma is complex and multifactorial. It is characterised by airway inflammation, persistent airway hyper reactivity, intermittent airflow obstruction and airway remodelling (Maddox L, Schwartz DA, 2002). Asthma is more common amongst individuals living in inner regional and socioeconomically disadvantaged areas compared to those in major cities or outer regional areas (Asthma Australia, 2014).

In 2011, 26 million Americans reported having asthma, or about 1 in 12 (Successes of the National Asthma Control Program 2009-2014 Stories From “Addressing Asthma From A Public Health Perspective” Grantees). In 2009 alone, there were over two million asthma-related emergency room visits and almost half a million hospitalizations; in 2010, 156 children and 3,248 adults died from asthma (CDC, 2013). Fortunately, asthma related morbidity and mortality are largely preventable through improved patient education and medical management. Thus, the healthy People 2020 Respiratory Disease Objective 3 (RD-3) aims to reduce emergency department (ED) visits for asthma (CDC, 2015).

Despite the availability of many effective treatments and evidence-based interventions, asthma still a significant problem in public health between children. Asthma is one of the top causes of hospital admission and emergency visits in the United States children (Mansfield, et al, 2015). Asthma causes significant restrictions on child’s activities, many work absences for parents, quality of life, and many absences from school days due to the increasing symptoms exacerbation. The severity of asthma may vary over the period of time, regularly, it is hard to categorize, and may not always be checked by objective procedures for instance lung function tests (Mansfield, et al, 2015). Theoretically, care of asthma stressed that the various set of

Twenty percent of children living in the South Bronx have been diagnosed with Asthma. Bronx children (boys and girls) living in the vicinity of Melrose, Mott Haven, and Port Morris ages 5-12 years old have a higher percentage of hospitalization than children that reside within other inner-cities in the US. Children suffering from asthma encounter a recurrent cough, wheezing, shortness of breath and decrease response to their medication. These children often are unable to participate in physical activities, have increased absenteeism from school, are withdrawn and have decreased self- confidence. It is important that families are educated on the appropriate preventions and treatments for asthma in order to prevent mortality.