Abstract
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways; occasional cases may succumb
from severe attacks. Bang-Pa-In Hospital established an asthma clinic in 2006; it is
operated by a multidisciplinary team which provides treatment according to international
standard guidelines. This study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of the Hospital’s
asthma clinic by comparing the results of the care before and after attending the clinic in
82 selected patients (24.4% male, 75.6% female) in the period from June 1, 2006 to December
31, 2007. The results showed that the hospitalization rate of asthma cases was reduced from
24.4 to 2.4 percent, the rate of patients receiving nebulizers in the emergency room was
reduced from 75.6 to 14.6 percent, the use of short-acting beta2-agonist was reduced from
81.7 to 23.2 percent, the rate of correct practice during asthma attack was 73.2 percent, the
use of inhaled corticosteroid (ICs) increased from 19.5 to 100 percent, the rate of correct
use of inhalers increased from 28.9 to 87.8 percent, and the control of the disease increased
from 11 to 24.4 percent. The means of in-patient admission, visiting the emergency room,
use of short-acting beta2-agonist, and peak expiratory flow of the experimental group
was significantly different at the 0.05 level.
This overall result implies that the quality of life of the asthmatic subjects became
better and that asthma can be controlled by providing, in addition to the use of appropriate
drugs (ICs), appropriate education about the disease and an understanding of how
asthma treatments work. Finally, the reduction in in-patient admissions, emergency department
visits and school or work days missed was achieved.
