%0 Journal Article %A Lekshmi Mohan Das %A James Murray %A Mahrukh Ajmal %A Nicola Wolstenholme %A Ajitha Jayaratnam %T Are acute asthma admissions preventable with improved patient education? %D 2013 %J European Respiratory Journal %P P3837 %V 42 %N Suppl 57 %X INTRODUCTIONCompliance and inhaler technique are key factors leading to poor asthma control with resulting hospital admissions.Most asthmatics are managed in the community, but require regular assessment to ensure compliance and good inhaler technique.Non-compliance with treatment may precipitate acute exacerbations and hospital admissions, during which specialist respiratory review may be limited.AIMAsthma admissions were reviewed to investigate whether these admissions may have been preventable with better management in the community.In addition, the management in the acute setting was audited against the British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines.METHODSA retrospective audit of case notes was undertaken for all patients admitted with acute asthma from September and October 2012.RESULTS41 patients were identified.56% of these were on treatment step 1 or 2 of the BTS guidelines.37% of patients were on step 3 and the remaining 7% on steps 4 and 5. At discharge, only 2 patients had a medication dose increase and only 6 had a new medication added.Documentation relating to stage of treatment, compliance and inhaler technique was poor as was provision of self-management plans.CONCLUSIONSAsthma exacerbations requiring admission can reflect poor disease control.Most patients were classified as mild asthmatics.As only 4% of patients had a step-up of their asthma treatment on discharge, poor compliance, inadequate inhaler technique, limited use of self-management plans and lack of patient education contributed to these admissions.Work needs to take place with GPs to ensure that regular asthma reviews are undertaken in the community.In addition, we propose an asthma checklist to improve adherence to BTS guidance. %U https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/erj/42/Suppl_57/P3837.full.pdf