By Evie Blad
A partnership between schools and health care providers could make a big difference for children with asthma, who don’t always take their medication properly, even after they are initially diagnosed with the disease, says a new study.
Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center tried a combination of two school-based interventions for 200 young students with the respiratory illness, says the study, which was published this week in the Journal of American Medicine Pediatrics. The children took their preventative asthma medication at school, under the supervision of the school nurse to make sure they were using it properly. And, to address circumstances that may keep them from receiving preventative care and check-ups, those same students used telemedicine equipment to meet remotely with a primary care physician three times throughout the school year to assess how the medicine was working and any follow-up concerns.