Improvements in Asthma Control After Pharmacist Involvement in an Outpatient Pediatric Asthma Clinic.

Background

Asthma is one of the most common pediatric disease states. However, current literature about outpatient pharmacy appointment effectiveness on pediatric asthma control is not widely available.

Objective

To determine whether outpatient pharmacist visits in pediatric patients with asthma result in a measurable difference in asthma control, utilizing the validated asthma control test (ACT) and childhood asthma control test (C-ACT) scoring tools.

Methods

This study enrolled 16 children ages 6-17 years old at an outpatient primary care clinic (November 2023-April 2024). The patients visited the outpatient pharmacist 2 to 3 times over a 12-week period. The primary outcome was the change in the patient's ACT or C-ACT from the baseline to the final study visit. Additional outcomes of interest included improvement in inhaler technique using a Vitalograph AIM® device, medication adherence rates, and change in emergent interventions from 6 months before enrollment compared to 3 months after the final visit.

Results

The median improvement in asthma control test was 3 at the final study visit (4 or 12 weeks after counseling), which was statistically significant (P = 0.0348). This was an improvement from 50% of patients controlled at baseline to 100% at the final visit (P = 0.0053). Emergent interventions including oral steroid courses, emergency department visits, and hospitalization for asthma were less common after pharmacist intervention than before enrollment (P = 0.0464). Improvements in technique were seen at the initial visit using Vitalograph AIM® to visualize counseling points.

Conclusion

Our study supports that outpatient pharmacist visits can have a measurable impact on pediatric asthma control.