Abstract
Introduction: A care bundle is a checklist of guidelines for clinicians. These have been successfully implemented in areas such as central line sepsis & ventilator-acquired pneumonia. We proposed that a care bundle would improve acute asthma care & outcomes by providing key clinical prompts. The 2009 British Thoracic Society (BTS) asthma audit highlighted areas for improvement, including PEFR and SpO2 documentation, inhaler technique review & use of written action plans.
Aims and objectives: To assess the impact of an asthma care bundle on concordance with UK asthma standards.
Method: A checklist sticker was created, piloted & implemented on acute medical wards, and the impact assessed using the 2010 BTS asthma audit.
Results: Pre- and post-care bundle results are shown in Table 1 (care bundle elements shown in bold)
Table 1. Summary of pre-bundle (2009) and post-bundle (2010) BTS audit outcomes
Conclusion: Use of the care bundle improved acute asthma care, particularly pre-discharge education & planning. Further work is needed to assess longer-term impact e.g. readmission rates, and the bundle is being revised in light of the latest audit data.
- © 2011 ERS
