Improving Timeliness and Reducing Variability in Asthma Care Through the use of Clinical Pathways

Clinical pathways are a cornerstone of emergency care of asthma in pediatric patients. Pathways for asthma standardize the evaluation of the sick child and improve provider recognition of the severity of respiratory distress. Pathways can also improve the management of pediatric asthma by decreasing time to steroid administration, decreasing length of stay, decreasing the rate of admissions, and decreasing overall costs. Pathways can also standardize care among a wide variety of practitioners with different levels of experience and across different kinds of sites - from academic tertiary care pediatric hospitals to community emergency departments and urgent care centers.