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Dozens of pamphlets, videos, books and self-management programs are available. How can you identify the good ones? One approach is to use the list in Rating Asthma Learning Materials which covers the basic points that patients need to know about asthma. I devised a scoring system for each of these items. This scale enables you to compare materials for completeness and accuracy.

The Asthma Peak Flow Diary is a comprehensive three-color diary sheet that can help teenagers, parents and adult patients understand asthma and thus manage it more effectively. It gives doctors a wealth of clinical information to use in guiding therapy and assessing progress in patients five years of age and over.

The Asthma Emergency Guide (AEG) to teaches school staff how to identify students with a life threatening asthma emergency. Equally important, the AEG identifies children with urgent problems who need medical attention within two hours. The staff will be able to arrange transport before the problem becomes life threatening.

The free Asthma Learning Tool (a.k.a Asthma Quiz) teaches the basic aspects of asthma care in 30 minutes. It has been used for review by office nurses, public health nurses, nurse practitioners, school nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and asthma case managers. Nursing and nurse practitioner students have used it in their formal training programs.

An interactive tool for learning about and managing asthma, this diary helps parents of young children understand asthma triggers, signs, symptoms and medicines. It gives the doctor a wealth of clinical information to use in assessing progress and guiding therapy.

The Signs Asthma Action Plan is intended for use with children age 5 and under. Using this four zone plan, parents will be able to tell a mild problem (high yellow zone) from a moderate problem (low yellow zone) and treat appropriately. The plan includes medicine dose and how often it should be taken.