Giving Asthma Support to Patients (GASP): a novel online asthma education, monitoring, assessment and management tool

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: Giving Asthma Support to Patients (GASP) is a unique online tool developed to provide asthma education at point of care, and to provide health care professionals in primary care with skills and knowledge to undertake a structured asthma assessment. ASSESSMENT OF PROBLEM: A retrospective cohort study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of GASP. Data for patients aged 5–64 years seen in primary care (Waitemata region of Auckland) with uncontrolled asthma who had completed a minimum of two GASP assessments between 1 November 2008 and 17 April 2011 were extracted from a secure, self-populating database. Outcome measures were compared between each patient’s visit 1 and 2 assessments. RESULTS: A total of 761 patients provided data using GASP. There was a significant reduction between GASP assessments in the risk of exacerbations, hospital admissions, emergency department presentations, requirement for corticosteroids, and bronchodilator reliance. STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVEMENT: Results from this retrospective cohort study are promising. A randomised controlled trial of the use of GASP in primary care is warranted to confirm these findings. The effectiveness of the GASP tool also needs to be further investigated in Maori and Pacific populations. LESSONS: The findings of this study of GASP show its potential and support its use in the primary care setting. KEYWORDS: Asthma; decision support techniques; primary health care, retrospective study