TY - JOUR T1 - Impact of focussed education on accuracy of acute asthma severity assessment JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 42 IS - Suppl 57 SP - P4901 AU - Alison MacKenzie AU - Lorraine Bridges AU - Peter Kewin Y1 - 2013/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P4901.abstract N2 - IntroductionSafe management of acute asthma is based on an objective assessment of disease severity (BTS 2012). We previously identified poor severity assessment as a fundamental issue in acute asthma management (Tsim et al ERS 2012). We sought to improve this through focussed asthma education.MethodsEducation sessions with interactive cases were provided over 2 weeks. Invitation was extended to Emergency Medicine (EM) and Medical Trainees (MT), but was only accepted by MT. Subsequent asthma admissions were prospectively audited (Aug-Nov 2012).ResultsOf 34 admissions, accurate assessment was made by 27% junior staff (7/19), 29% middle grade (2/7) and 0% Consultant (0/1); 14% of EM (4/28) and 33% of MT admissions (2/6). Performance did not improve following education (Table 1), with poor PEFR monitoring (Table 2)View this table:Impact of educationView this table:PEFR dataConclusionsIn isolation, focussed eduction cannot improve performance. A multi-modal approach, targeting broader clinician groups, with an integrated care pathway and multi-speciality clinical governance meetings may improve assessment and reduce potential adverse outcomes. ER -