, School Asthma Education Slide Set

1. NAEPP Coordinating Committee
   • School Asthma Education Slide Set
   
   
2. Asthma is a Major Public Health Problem
   • Nearly 5 million children have asthma (6.9% of children under 18)
   • It is one of the most common chronic childhood illnesses
   • It is a leading cause of school absences
   
   
3. In a classroom of 30 children, 2 or more children are likely to have asthma
   
   
4. What is Asthma?

   A disease that:

   • Is chronic
   • Produces recurring episodes of breathing problems
   • Coughing
   • Wheezing
   • Chest tightness
   • Shortness of breath
   • Cannot be cured, but can be controlled
   
   
5. What are the Symptoms of Asthma?
   • Shortness of breath
   • Wheezing
   • Tightness in the chest
   • Coughing at night or after physical activity; cough that lasts more than a week
   • Waking at night with asthma symptoms (a key marker of uncontrolled asthma)
   
   
6. What Happens During an Episode of Asthma?
   • The lining of the airways becomes swollen (inflamed)
   • The airways produce a thick mucus
   • The muscles around the airways tighten and make airways narrower
   
   
7. What Makes Asthma Worse?
   • Allergens
   • Warm-blooded pets (including dogs, cats, birds, and small rodents)
   • House dust mites
   • Cockroaches
   • Pollens from grass and trees
   • Molds (indoors and outdoors)
   
   
8. What Makes Asthma Worse? (cont.)
   • Irritants
   • Cigarette smoke and wood smoke
   • Scented products such as hair spray, cosmetics, and cleaning products
   • Strong odors from fresh paint or cooking
   • Automobile fumes and air pollution
   • Chemicals such as pesticides and lawn treatments
   
   
9. What Makes Asthma Worse? (cont.)
   • Infections in the upper airways, such as colds
     (a common trigger for both children and adults)
   • Exercise
   • Strong expressions of feelings (crying, laughing)
   • Changes in weather and temperature
   
   
10. Is There A Cure For Asthma?
    • Asthma cannot be cured, but it can be controlled.
    • You should not expect nothing less.
    
    
11. How Is Asthma Controlled?
    • Follow an individualized asthma management plan
    • Avoid or control exposure to things that make asthma worse
    • Use medication appropriately
    • Long-term-control medicine
    • Quick-relief medicine
    
    
12. How Is Asthma Controlled? (cont.)
    • Monitor response to treatment
    • Symptoms
    • Peak flow
    • Get regular follow-up care
    
    
13. How are Asthma Episodes Controlled?
    • Know the signs that asthma is worsening
    • Treat symptoms or drop in peak flow at first signs of worsening
    • Monitor response to therapy
    • Seek a doctor's help when it is needed
    
    
14. What Should People with Asthma Be Able To Do?
    • Be active without having asthma symptoms;
      this includes participating in exercise and sports
    • Sleep through the night without having asthma symptoms
    • Prevent asthma episodes (attacks)
    • Have the best possible lung function (e.g., good peak flow number)
    • Avoid side effects from asthma medicines
    
    
15. Asthma Goals For School Health
    • Healthy school environment
    • Health services in school
    • Asthma education
    • Supportive policies
    • Sound communication
    
    
16. Goal: Healthy School Environment
    • Enforce no-smoking policies
    • Reduce exposures to triggers: tobacco smoke, chemical vapors, furry or
      feathered animals, mites, cockroaches, chalk dust, mold
    • Keep temperature and humidity at appropriate settings
    • Maintain HVAC systems
    • Dry up damp and wet areas within 1-2 days
    
    
17. Goal: Health Services in School
    • Provide full-time nursing services
    • Include nursing assessments, care plans in student records
    • Teach and monitor correct inhaler techniques, peak flow meter use
    • Train, supervise and delegate to health assistants and education staff, as appropriate
    
    
18. Goal: Asthma Education
    • Provide asthma awareness for all students
    • Teach asthma management to students with asthma
    • Provide asthma education for faculty and staff
    • Teach parents how to manage asthma
    
    
19. Goal: Supportive Policies
    • Identify students with asthma
    • Provide quick, reliable access to medications
    • Establish individualized student asthma management plan
    • Establish individualized student emergency plan for asthma episodes
    • Promote safe and full participation in all school activities
    • Monitor students' asthma
    
    
20. Supportive Policies
    • Identify Students
    • Review student health records
    • Interview parents
    • Interview school health staff
    
    
21. Supportive Policies
    • Provide Access to Medication
    • Ensure reliable access to medication for all school activities
    • Allow self-administration as appropriate
    • Provide for nebulizer treatment as needed
    
    
22. Supportive Policies
    • Establish Student Asthma Management Plan
    • Address triggers
    • Record personal best peak flow.
    • Specify routine medications.
    • Outline signs and symptoms of worsening asthma
    • Specify medications required for emergencies and how to monitor response to them.
    • Indicate emergency contacts
    • Place plan in student's health record
    • Make copies for off-campus activities
    
    
23. Supportive Polices
    • Establish Plan for Asthma Episodes
    • Develop school wide emergency plans/procedures
    • Include respiratory distress treatment protocols
    • Include plan for someone without an individualized plan
    • Include an emergency plan for asthma episodes
      in the individualized student asthma management plan.
    
    
24. Supportive Policies
    • Promote Participation in All Activities, including Physical Activities
    • Encourage student participation
    • Allow pretreatment and or warm-up before physical activity
    • Allow access to quick relief medication
    • Modify activity or substitute with less strenuous option
    
    
25. Supportive Policies
    • Monitor Students' Asthma
    • Watch for symptoms of uncontrolled asthma
    • Monitor absenteeism due to asthma
    • Refer for home teaching as needed
    
    
26. Goal: Sound Communication
    • Form linkages among school, home and health care providers
    • Observe and report symptoms, medication use
    • Review difficulties student may have with daily school management plan
    • Resolve problems with school performance related to asthma
    • Encourage active student participation in school activities
    
    
27. Asthma Resources For School Health
    • National Asthma Education and Prevention Program
      (NAEPP) Website and Materials Start at www.nhlbi.nih.gov
    • Check out health information for lung diseases
      NAEPP Partner Organization Website and Materials Start at www.nhlbi.nih.gov
    • Go to NAEPP homepage; click on "roster" to link with partners