 RESPONSES BY SUBJECT
 Are there any special problems in diagnosing asthma in children? Do they vary by age?
What do you think are the special issues and challenges in treating children with asthma? Do they vary by age?
What questions do parents/carers and patients ask of you?
Which educational strategies work?
Which in your opinion are the top three problems children and parents/carers face in managing asthma in daily life?
RESPONSES BY COUNTRY
|
 |
|
Responses by countryAngela Boque (Spain):
Are there any special problems in diagnosing asthma in children? Do they vary by age?There are some problems. We can do prick tests and spirometry in only a few primary care centres, although this situation is improving. The other centres and doctors do not have these means and send children to a hospital for diagnostic tests. Small children are mainly diagnosed after an accurate clinical assessment.What do you think are the special issues and challenges in treating children with asthma? Do they vary by age?I think the inhalation techniques and inhalation devices, like the spacers, are all quite difficult for children. This is a great challenge. Even if you spend a lot of time teaching technique, you never know exactly how much medicine gets into a baby or a child. You don't know how much the family understands. And how well they do the technique at home. I think this is a big challenge for health professionals in paediatric clinics.What questions do parents/carers and patients ask of you?Usually it's a diagnosis that they don't accept. The first thing they say is that they don't believe it can be asthma. They refuse to understand that it's a chronic disease and there may be problems in the future. It's important to help them understand what asthma is. Personally, I don't have any difficulty with this if I have time; it's difficult to do if you're rushed. I use drawings; I have three tubes as examples, explaining what happens to the bronchi when in a crisis, when not. I explain that there are athletes and Olympic athletes who have asthma. The only thing is that you need time. Primary care settings are often full and have to solve many other health problems.Which educational strategies work?The main strategies we use are to talk and talk and answer and listen and talk and answer and listen and talk and answer. I think this is very important. The ideal strategy probably would be to get together groups of patients of the same age and groups of parents of the same status and age, that would be of great help. But we cannot do this at the moment in our public health system.Which in your opinion are the top three problems children and parents/carers face in managing asthma in daily life?
|