Improving Asthma Outcomes Through Spirometry Distance Learning

Status:	Archived
Conditions:	Asthma
Therapuetic Areas:	Pulmonary / Respiratory Diseases
Healthy:	No
Age Range:	Any
Updated:	7/1/2011
Start Date:	June 2010
End Date:	September 2012

Spirometry is a recommended component of asthma diagnosis and treatment in the primary care
setting, yet few providers report its routine use for children with asthma.
Misclassification of asthma severity occurs when assessment is based on symptoms alone.
This misclassification can lead to inadequate treatment, increased morbidity, and increased
healthcare utilization/cost.

The goal of this study is to test the effectiveness of a distance learning quality
improvement program called Spirometry 360 developed by the interactive Medical Training
Resources (iMTR) group at the University of Washington Child Health Institute. The
Spirometry 360 program aims to improve care for children with asthma by enhancing provider
knowledge and self-efficacy related to the use and interpretation of office-based
spirometry.

The Spirometry 360 program includes:

1. "Spirometry Fundamentalsâ„¢: A basic guide to lung function testing," a computer-based
training program that teaches primary care providers how to coach patients to produce
high-quality spirometry tests and accurately interpret spirometric data;

2. Spirometry Learning Lab: Case-based teaching of spirometry in practice guides test
administrators and interpreters through clinical examples in an interactive virtual
classroom setting. These sessions are led by expert clinical faculty and are archived
for future reference and review;

3. Spirometry Feedback: Tailored analysis of providers' spirometry testing sessions offers
monthly individualized feedback reports by clinical experts on spirometry tests
performed in the clinic.

This is a cluster randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of the Spirometry
360 program. The Spirometry 360 program will be provided to 25 primary care pediatric
practices from two practice-based research networks. A separate group of 25 matched control
practices recruited from these same networks will receive standard training from the
equipment vendor during the study and the Spirometry 360 training program at the end of the
study.

We found this trial at

sites

Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute

Seattle, Washington 98101

from

Seattle, WA