Question
What are the key components of an asthma action plan?
Answer
The key components of an asthma action plan are:
- What medicines to take
- When to take them
- How much to take
- When to get help
- Share your plan
- Update every 3-6 months with your healthcare provider
This plan is going to let the patient and others know what medicines to take, when to take them, how much to take, and when they need to get help. It is very important for a parent to share their child’s asthma action plan with coaches, the school, and Grandma and Grandpa, or other caregivers around the child. They need to make sure that that asthma action plan goes with the child and that everyone, including the child if they are old enough, knows what to do when their asthma begins to get worse.
Healthcare providers should work with the patient to update this asthma action plan every three to six months. Because we know that symptoms can come and go, and there could be a time where maybe the patient is on an inhaled corticosteroid and they are doing fine, they may be able to wean off that inhaled corticosteroid. This is especially true if it is not the season where they have difficulty. The asthma action plan is a very important part of managing asthma. You can see examples of an asthma action plan in Understanding Asthma: Building Blocks for Better Breathing and at www.nhlbi.nih.gov.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Current Guidelines in Asthma Management Across all Age Groups, presented by Nancy Nathenson, BS, RRT.
