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These services are designed to complement the care an asthmatic child receives through his/her primary care provider or pulmonologist. Through monthly in home evaluations of the child, medical records and individual case consultation with a child’s primary care provider or pulmonologist, nurses obtain information about a child’s asthma profile including environmental triggers, medications, history of attacks, frequency of emergency visits and hospitalizations, and treatment recommendations.
Using this information, CHIP nurses instruct parents on how to make changes in the home to decrease environmental triggers (dust, pet dander, indoor smoking, mold), how to use and manage their child’s medications (including proper dosage), and how to use spacers that make the most of asthma medications. Nurses also instruct parents with regards to managing an asthma attack including how to recognize the signs and symptoms of an impending attack, when to contact the child’s primary care provider or pulmonologist, when to take the child in for evaluation, and when to take the child to the Emergency Room.
Nurses follow up with the parent and child’s doctor to ensure that treatment recommendations are understood and followed; families with transportation needs can receive transportation through CHIP to any of their child’s health care or specialist appointments. Together with parents and physicians, nurses support the development of an Asthma Action Plan that provides clear, easy-to-follow instructions on managing an asthma attack. This step-by-step approach helps parents and children break an attack down in to stages with advice that make the disease less intimidating for parents and less frightening for children. CHIP nurses also use Sesame Street educational videos to help children and parents learn more about asthma, empowering them to take control in the management of the disease through preventive measures, thus decreasing the necessity for emergency medications, emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
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