The Managing Pediatric Asthma: Emergency Department Demonstration Program, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), developed and tested emergency department-based systems to improve pediatric asthma care.

During 2001–2005, project teams at four sites — Honolulu, Houston, Milwaukee and Washington — implemented the following:

• Data systems to track emergency department pediatric asthma patients.
• Educational interventions to help patients and parents manage the disease.

The project teams reported their findings in the April 2006 supplement to Pediatrics.

Key Results

• Although results were not uniform, the projects as a group demonstrated that emergency departments can deliver effective asthma education and management programs to pediatric asthma patients and their families.
• The projects demonstrated that emergency department-based patient tracking systems can produce data to enhance understanding of the local pediatric asthma population and inform clinical and educational interventions.
• The projects found that children with the mildest chronic asthma severity classification — mild intermittent — constituted an unexpectedly large proportion of emergency department pediatric asthma patients.

Funding and Management
The RWJF Board of Trustees authorized the program in July 1999 for up to $3.5 million as part of a major effort to improve management of pediatric asthma in high-risk populations (see RWJF Strategy).

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) in Milwaukee managed the program and provided technical assistance to the project staffs.