The Asthma Coalition of Kern County begin to learn from members over the past few months that providers of school age asthmatic children were experiencing some sort of difficulty in completing asthma action plans for their clients. One major benefit of a completed asthma action plan for a school nurse is the ability to provide comprehensive care for a student who comes in suffering. Without a plan in place, students can be rushed to the hospital leading to missed time at school and parent's work schedules are interrupted to tend to their child.
During Asthma Awareness Month, the coalition has been fortunate to collaborate with many local agencies and offer an Asthma Symposium for providers of Kern County. Kern county providers invited to this free event include physicians, nurse practitioners, and school nurses. Local providers of continuing education credits will provide units to all attendees. The keynote speaker will be a pulmonologist from the University of California-Los Angeles who will discuss best practices of asthma management. In addition, a local school health coordinator will provide training on completing an asthma action plan.
The coalition hopes this event will advance provider knowledge on best practices of asthma management and by the next school year, an increase in asthma action plans will be observed.
