Follow-up Care for Children With Asthma After Emergency Department Visits

Current guidelines recommend that all children obtain follow-up within 1 to 4 weeks after an emergency department (ED) visit for acute asthma. Follow-up may be an important link to reestablish regular care with the primary care provider, review reasons for the ED visit, and update the home management plan. Obtaining follow-up from the ED can be challenging. Studies have reported baseline follow-up rates between 7% and 44% without intervention. Successful interventions report follow-up rates of 36% to 78%. Studies that demonstrated improved follow-up from the ED found methods to personalize care such as individualized education, assistance with follow-up, and/or providing medications or transportation free of charge. A few studies effectively used computer-based interventions in the ED. As electronic systems become more common in the ED, integrating asthma care, personalized education, and scheduling follow-up in real time may be possible.