Managing Asthma for Patients and Families

Miles Weinberger M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Pediatric Allergy and Pulmonary Division

The University of Iowa

Table of Contents

The purpose of this educational material is to assist the patient and care givers in understanding the management of asthma. However, this is not a substitute for knowledgeable and skilled medical care. It requires medical decisions to confirm the diagnosis of asthma and formulate a treatment plan appropriate to the individual patient.

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Choose from the following patient instructional materials:

• Information about asthma for patient and family
• Information about asthma for school personnel
• Information regarding medication use for asthma
• Information regarding environmental aspects of asthma management

Information about asthma for patients and family

• Rights and responsibilities of patients with asthma
  • The asthmatic's BILL OF RIGHTS
  • An asthmatic's responsibilities
• Overview of asthma
  • Common and important questions:
    • What is asthma?
    • Is all asthma the same?
    • Why does someone get it?
    • Is asthma a psychosomatic disease?
    • What can be done about it?
    • Will it ever go away?
    • Can asthmatics exercise safely?
    • Does asthma cause permanent damage?
    • What does control of asthma mean?
• Goal of treatment - control of the disease
• How the treatment goals are attained
• Information for school personnel
  • Do asthma medications cause behavior or learning problems?
  • Who keeps the bronchodilator inhaler at school?
• Dealing with anxiety, fear, and panic during an acute exacerbation of asthma
• Medications used for asthma
  • Intervention medication for the treatment of acute symptoms of asthma
    • Inhaled bronchodilators
    • Oral corticosteroids
  • Maintenance medication for the prevention of symptoms
    • Inhaled corticosteroids
    • Altemate moming oral corticosteroids
    • Theophylline
    • Long acting inhaled bronchodilators
    • Leukotriene modifiers
    • Others
      • Cromolyn sodium
      • Nedocromil
      • Ketotifen
• Patient aids for medication dosing
  • Use of an inhaled medication
    • By a metered-dose inhaler
    • By a metered-dose inhaler with an aerosol holding chamber
    • By a nebulizer system
  • Administration of oral medication to young children
• Preventing exercise-induced asthma
• Asthma and pregnancy (effects on the mother and baby)
• Asthma and the environment
  • Asthma and smoking (by the patient or those around the patient)
  • Asthma and allergies
• Use of the home peak flow meter
• The asthma diary
  • Use of daily diaries
  • Diary for adolescents and adults
  • Simplified diary for children
• Interpreting the allergy evaluation and understanding the role of environmental factors in asthma
• Environmental control measures for asthma
  • Pollens
  • Outdoor molds
  • Household pet dander
  • Horse dander
  • Housedust (dust mite)
  • Indoor molds
  • Smoking and second-hand smoke exposure
  • Moving to escape exposure to inhalant allergens
• Allergy shots for asthma