Asthma care bundle and pathway to improve asthma management in a community paediatric inpatient unit, a quality improvement initiative.

Abstract

Background: Asthma is the most common chronic paediatric condition and a frequent cause of emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

Objectives: The project objective was to decrease inpatient length of stay (LOS) for asthma exacerbations between May 2021 and 2022.

Methods: The Institute for Healthcare Improvement Model for improvement was employed to study if systemic changes to asthma management could reduce hospital LOS. The inpatient asthma care bundle consisted of a discharge checklist, standardized care pathway that allowed nurse titration of bronchodilator based on an objective scoring tool and standardized team education.

Results: The pre-intervention mean inpatient LOS was 56 h, 100 h for patients with a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) stay, and 52 h for patients without a PICU stay. While the mean PICU LOS remained unchanged, the mean LOS for patients without PICU stay decreased to 34 h and was sustained through the project's completion. The percentage of healthcare professionals feeling "comfortable"/'very comfortable' caring for asthmatic patients remained unchanged during the project (100%). Caregivers' confidence regarding asthma management mean score increased from 6/10 to 9/10 after hospital discharge. No statistical increase respiratory-based emergency department presentation within 10 days of discharge, use of high-flow ventilation and transfer to PICU was noted.

Conclusions: Implementing an inpatient asthma care bundle reduced the mean LOS for patients without PICU stay from 52 to 34 h, which represents a 35% decrease. The most impactful intervention was the implementation of the inpatient asthma management pathway.