The Asthma Toolkit Bootcamp to Improve Rural Primary Care for Pediatric Asthma

BACKGROUND: Children with asthma living in rural areas receive most of their care from primary care providers who have variable knowledge of evidence-based guideline management. OBJECTIVE: To test the capacity of the Asthma Toolkit Bootcamp program to improve primary care provider guidelines adherence and reduce health care utilization in rural children with asthma. METHODS: The Asthma Toolkit Bootcamp program provided intensive training in National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute guidelinesebased asthma care, evaluated within a RE-AIM implementation science framework. All primary care practices serving pediatric patients in rural La Plata County, Colorado, received (1) online instruction, (2) full-day training, and (3) follow-up, in-practice training 1 month later. Training focused on spirometry use, severity and control assessment, medication management, asthma action plan utilization, and adoption of a standardized visit protocol. RESULTS: RE-AIM evaluation determined successful enrollment of practices in La Plata County (Reach) and provider uptake of evidence-based practices including spirometry (Adoption). Pediatric asthma patients receiving spirometry increased from 22% pretraining to 86% posttraining; severity assessment from 47% to 88%; and action plans from 40% to 86%. Significant improvements in health care utilization were observed among trained practices including a 10% decrease in emergency department visits, 35% decrease in hospital admissions, and 29% decrease in oral corticosteroid prescriptions (Effectiveness). Comparison practices showed no significant reductions in health care utilization. Participating providers reported that having the training in their own community, intense practice, a team-based approach, and cost-free materials including the spirometer and patient education materials were particularly helpful. CONCLUSIONS: The Asthma Toolkit Bootcamp improved pediatric asthma care given by rural providers and reduced health care utilization among their patients. (C) 2021 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology