Physician

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 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.

This easy-to-read guide will help people with asthma stay out of the emergency room, out of the hospital and as active as everyone else. It is an ideal guide for parents, patients and anyone who needs a quick asthma reference book. Accurate, clear, and illustrated with line drawings and charts, One Minute Asthma covers the basics of asthma and the medicines used to treat it. Readers will learn how

The "Asthma Disease Management Resource Manual" was created to assist health care organizations and individual practitioners in the diagnosis, assessment and treatment of asthma. The manual includes patient guidelines, checklists, treatment algorithms and therapy recommendations. Particular emphasis is given to patient self-care and monitoring, as well as the psychosocial factors that may have an

The handbook "Asthma Management and the Allergist: Better Outcomes at Lower Cost" includes abstracted and summarized data documenting that treatment outcomes are better and costs are lower when allergists directly provide asthma care or coordinate a care team, compared to when an allergist is not involved.

The Smokefree Apartment House Registry at www.smokefreeapartments.org provides a free listing of non-smoking apartments which are located in non-smoking buildings. There is also information for landlords and tenants about the legality of non-smoking residential buildings. The service is free.

Clearinghouse of free downloadable fact sheets, guides, and reports on healthy school environments, offers information and referral to parents,personnel, and schools nationwide on common environmental concerns: IAQ, IPM, Molds, environemnt committees, high performance design, renovation and health, and other issues.