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Study: ambulatory clinics better than ERs for asthma care

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, November 18, 2004

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A new study conducted in Brazil among asthma sufferers points to the significant benefits of specialized ambulatory care, according to a story recently published November 14 in Medical Devices & Surgical Technology Week.

Researcher P.T.R. Dalcin and a team of colleagues from the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre interviewed a cross-section of asthma patients, ages 12 and older, who had visited emergency rooms and asthma specialist clinics for treatment of their condition. The published data offered the conclusion that emergency room patients "were more likely than asthma clinic patients to be dependent on the acute use of the emergency department, were significantly less knowledgeable about asthma management, and were more likely to suffer severe disease."

Specific statistics showed that more asthma clinic patients than emergency patients (75.6% to 18.6%) received treatments of inhaled corticosteroids and knew how to correctly use a metered-dose inhaler (50% to 11.6%). The chronic visitors to emergency rooms instead of specialized ambulatory care facilities were also more likely (81.4% to 49.4%) to report difficulty performing their jobs due to asthma-related problems.

The study, which was also published in the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, concluded that "facilitating the access to ambulatory care facilities might serve to reduce asthma morbidity."

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