We will use a web-based system to assess asthma severity or control and will send a symptom report to the child's primary care physician (PCP). Children randomized to the SB-TEAM group, will receive a telemedicine visit in the school health office at the start of the school year to provide an initial asthma assessment. The telemedicine provider will deliver brief asthma education and referrals to community resources, and will send a guideline-based preventive medication prescription electronically to a local pharmacy. The pharmacy will deliver the medications to home and school, and the school nurse will administer the medication as directly observed therapy throughout the school year. Follow-up telemedicine assessments will occur twice during the study period. These follow-up visits will focus on assessment of control, assessment of ongoing triggers or co-morbid conditions, and brief asthma education.

Children randomized to the enhanced usual care group will receive a symptom assessment using national care guidelines, a recommendation for appropriate preventive medications, and asthma education materials. We will use the web-based system to send a symptom report to the child's PCP with guideline-based recommendations for preventive care. We will provide systematic feedback to the family and providers at the same intervals as in the SB-TEAM group's telemedicine visits, by prompting providers to use care guidelines, and caregivers to schedule recommended follow-up visits with the PCP.

The primary outcome measure is asthma morbidity between groups. We will measure asthma morbidity by looking at the average number of days without asthma symptoms (symptom free days) over 2 weeks, during each follow-up assessment during the peak winter season (November-March). Symptom free days are defined as 24 hour periods of no asthma symptoms including, coughing, wheezing, tightness in the chest or shortness of breath. The number of symptom free days will be reported by the child's caregiver.

We will use a web-based system to assess asthma severity or control and will send a symptom report to the child's primary care physician (PCP). Children randomized to the SB-TEAM group, will receive a telemedicine visit in the school health office at the start of the school year to provide an initial asthma assessment. The telemedicine provider will deliver brief asthma education and referrals to community resources, and will send a guideline-based preventive medication prescription electronically to a local pharmacy. The pharmacy will deliver the medications to home and school, and the school nurse will administer the medication as directly observed therapy throughout the school year. Follow-up telemedicine assessments will occur twice during the study period. These follow-up visits will focus on assessment of control, assessment of ongoing triggers or co-morbid conditions, and brief asthma education.

School-Based Telemedicine Enhanced Asthma Management

The primary outcome measure is asthma morbidity between groups. We will measure asthma morbidity by looking at the average number of days without asthma symptoms (symptom free days) over 2 weeks, during each follow-up assessment during the peak winter season (November-March). Symptom free days are defined as 24 hour periods of no asthma symptoms including, coughing, wheezing, tightness in the chest or shortness of breath. The number of symptom free days will be reported by the child's caregiver.

We will use a web-based system to assess asthma severity or control and will send a symptom report to the child's primary care physician (PCP). Children randomized to the SB-TEAM group, will receive a telemedicine visit in the school health office at the start of the school year to provide an initial asthma assessment. The telemedicine provider will deliver brief asthma education and referrals to community resources, and will send a guideline-based preventive medication prescription electronically to a local pharmacy. The pharmacy will deliver the medications to home and school, and the school nurse will administer the medication as directly observed therapy throughout the school year. Follow-up telemedicine assessments will occur twice during the study period. These follow-up visits will focus on assessment of control, assessment of ongoing triggers or co-morbid conditions, and brief asthma education.

School-Based Telemedicine Enhanced Asthma Management