Impact of an Integrated Care Intervention Program on Asthmatic Patients.
Impact of an Integrated Care Intervention Program on Asthmatic Patients.
The investigators propose to implement and evaluate an integrated care program for enhancing the care of patients with asthma in a region of Quebec province, Canada. The investigators will implement our intervention in a family medicine group practice setting and plan to deliver it to 150 experimental group subjects. The investigators will simultaneously study 300 control subjects who are receiving usual care in other regions of the province of Quebec. Our hypothesis is that the program will improve the quality of life of patients with asthma exposed to the program, asthma control, inhaled corticosteroid adherence, knowledge of asthma, and a number of variables that relate to the conceptual model selected as a framework for this study (the PRECEDE-PROCEED model of Green and Kreuter).
Inclusion Criteria:
Individuals aged 12 to 45 years, for whom the pharmacists had dispensed at least one anti-asthma drug in the previous six months were screened and randomly contacted by phone. Those who reported an asthma diagnosis and who were using a short-acting beta-2-agonist (SABA) >3 times a week (except before exercise) or a corticosteroid (inhaled or oral), irrespective of frequency were included.
Exclusion Criteria:
Pregnancy, no prior asthma diagnosis, participation in an ongoing respiratory study, or another respiratory illness.