Asthmatic Patient Follow up PHCC Guidelines Insight of Physicians at West Bay Health Center in Qatar

Abstract

Introduction

Asthma represents a major global health problem and is associated with significant morbidity. More than 300 million individuals are affected by asthma and asthma accounts for approximately 1 of every 250 deaths worldwide. Clinical encounters with a diagnosis of asthma is 8.5% of the total primary health care clinic work load in Qatar and more that 25% of those case had frequent visits for the same issue. Furthermore, steroid are underutilized for prevention of asthma in PHCC setting. Proper management and follow up of asthma patients are a crucial part of asthma control. Poorly controlled asthma contributes to avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations. PHCC guidelines for asthma management and a global strategy for asthma management and prevention, the Global Initiative for Asthma (2019)   recommend that every asthma patient should receive a written asthma action plan appropriate for their level of asthma control and health literacy, so they know how to recognize and respond to worsening asthma. Peak Expiratory Flow measurement (PEF) also helps in monitoring of condition as a part of asthmatic patients’ action plan; asthma severity and treatment effectiveness. It can be also used in diagnosing asthma only if spirometry is unavailable.  The QASMA study done in Qatar exploring the burden of Asthma in Adults, it was found that 33 %, 41%, and 26% of patients had uncontrolled, controlled, and partly controlled asthma, respectively. Only 4.9% of patients had previously received a written asthma management plan Therefore, our aim is to assess the level of physician’s awareness of PHCC asthma follow up key steps for Asthmatic patient.

A brief anonymous Monkey survey distributed online via watts physicians group. Around 58 % of physicians find it difficult to provide the patients with asthma action plan due to lack of education, undocumented PEF, time constraints. Only 12% of our physicians provides their patient with asthma action plan. Around 60% of west bay physicians request PEF for their asthmatic patient. Thus enhancing awareness and educating staff regarding the effectiveness of empowering the asthmatic patients for self- management by providing them with asthma action plan are crucial and can lead to good asthma control.