Asthma

ACU’s Comprehensive Asthma Resource List has everything you need to create an asthma care home for your patients. In one location, you can find resources including clinical guidelines, patient education and self-management materials, policy briefs, asthma reports, clinical toolkits, mobile technology and asthma information, and smoking cessation and tobacco materials. Many of the resources are available in both English and Spanish, and some in other languages, including Chinese. Also included are a variety of multimedia tools such as videos and interactive web sites. There are even links to asthma-related training courses where continuing education credits are available.

Asthma
October 8, 2014

ACU belongs to the EPA’s AsthmaCommunityNetwork.org, an interactive online community designed for asthma champions to share, learn, and connect with peers to advance asthma care. Join this national network of community-based programs and access cutting-edge tools, the latest strategies and hundreds resources in asthma care and management. Schedule a Training ACU offers training for primary care providers and community workers on Building an Asthma Care Home: Engaging Clinicians, Patients and … [Read more…]

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved: ACU Column on Asthma Project
September 17, 2014

The August 2014 issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved is now available in print and online! The Association of Clinicians for the Underserved is happy to announce the most up-to-date JHCPU article focusing on Asthma Disparities. This silver issue opens with a reflection on health care management in the U.S., including the impact of Asthma Disparities and how EHR use can improve health outcomes; an ACU provided column that discusses the electronic health record and the … [Read more…]

Comprehensive Asthma Resource List
August 18, 2014

ACU’s Comprehensive Asthma Resource List has everything you need to create an asthma care home for your patients. In one location, you can find resources including clinical guidelines, patient education and self-management materials, policy briefs, asthma reports, clinical toolkits, mobile technology and asthma information, and smoking cessation and tobacco materials. Many of the resources are available in both English and Spanish, and some in other languages, including Chinese. Also included … [Read more…]

New EPA/Air Quality Funding Announcements
August 5, 2014

EPA solicits grant applications for Air Pollution Monitoring for Communities: EPA, as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing research on empowering communities and individuals to take action to avoid air pollution exposure, using low-cost portable air pollution sensors. Specifically of interest is research on using low-cost portable sensors to understand and avoid air pollution exposure, on the ways communities and individuals interact with air … [Read more…]

ACU Recognizes Asthma Awareness Month
May 20, 2014

Washington, D.C. (May 1, 2014) – The ACU is proud to recognize the month of May as Asthma Awareness Month, in an effort to raise awareness of the risks faced everyday by an estimated 26 million Americans living with asthma. ACU joins the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, and the American Lung Association among many others recognizing Asthma Awareness Month. ACU understands the disparate impact of asthma in the U.S., with the highest … [Read more…]

Group Visits for Asthma Management
January 22, 2014

Group visits, or shared medical appointments, are a growing trend in chronic disease management. They can be an effective and cost-efficient way to teach self management, deliver comprehensive education and address some of the linguistic and cultural challenges when working with asthma patients. In this 5 minute podcast hosted by the Asthma Community Network, ACU Associate Director for Programs Lois Wessel, FNP, shares her thoughts on how group visits can be used to improve asthma … [Read more…]

Seven Steps to Reduce Indoor Asthma Triggers
January 3, 2014

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the body’s airways. The risk of developing asthma can depend on both genetics and the environment. Once someone has asthma, exposure to certain contaminants can trigger asthma attacks. Air pollutants in both indoor and outdoor environments are known contributors to asthma attacks.1 Examples of asthma triggers in the environment include ozone, nitrogen and sulfur oxides, dust mites, cockroaches, animal dander, tobacco smoke, asbestos, and particulate … [Read more…]

Developing an Asthma Clinical Decision Support Tool
October 31, 2013

ACU and the Alliance of Chicago have partnered to create an electronic Asthma Clinical Decision Support tool intended to improve asthma care in primary care settings. The tool is is based on the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s evidence-based asthma clinical guidelines. Embedded in the electronic health record, the Asthma Clinical Decision Support tool prompts clinicians to educate and engage patients and their families about environmental asthma triggers. It also provides data for … [Read more…]

What Families Can Do about Asthma
June 24, 2013

Spanish Podcast for Families on Asthma Management As part of Asthma Awareness Month 2013, ACU’s Associate Director for Programs, Lois Wessel, FNP  participated in a variety of Spanish language radio shows.  Here’s a clip from an Univision radio show called “El Consultorio de la Dra. Aliza” in which Lois is interviewed about what families can do to manage their asthma. Note: Available in Spanish only. … [Read more…]

National Networks for Tobacco Control and Prevention
June 20, 2013

While smoking  has declined overall among the United States population, rates are disproportionately higher among communities of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), and low socioeconomic status populations (Low SES). Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) has funded the National Networks for Tobacco Control and Prevention to advance the science and practice of tobacco control in the United States for members of … [Read more…]

New Asthma Recorded Webinar
June 3, 2013 by Administrator

Building an Asthma Care Home: Engaging Clinicians, Patients and Caregivers in Comprehensive Asthma Management is a 60-minute webinar, presented by Lois Wessel, FNP. It was recorded by the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments on May 29, 2013. Click here to begin the recorded webinar. CE credit is no longer available for this webinar.  A similar presentation  on Comprehensive Asthma Management that is approved for CE credit is available via the Clinical Directors Network. Click here … [Read more…]

Podcast on Asthma and Health Information Technology
June 3, 2013

Anna Gard, Health IT and Quality Consultant, Association for Clinicians for the Underserved Introduces the Role of Health IT in Managing Asthma There is constant development of patient-centric tools to support asthma self-management and promote engagement with clinicians, patients and families to assist in identifying, reporting their asthma triggers, monitoring their asthma status, supporting self-care and management strategies. Some of these tools and technologies really help (A) engage … [Read more…]

New Resource to Help Patient Quit Tobacco
June 3, 2013 by Administrator

The Asian Smokers’ Quitline is a free nationwide Asian-language quit smoking service operated by the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego. The Quitline offers self-help materials, referral to local programs, one-on-one telephone counseling to quit smoking, and a free two-week starter kit of nicotine patches. Access in-language services using these numbers: Chinese: 1-800-838-8917 Korean: 1-800-556-5564 Vietnamese: 1-800-778-8440 … [Read more…]

Asthma Training with CME Now Available
April 25, 2013

Building a Comprehensive Asthma Care Home: Engaging Clinicians, Patients and Caregivers in Comprehensive Asthma Management is a continuing professional education program offered by ACU and Co-hosted by the Clinical Directors Network (CDN). It has been approved for 1.0 prescribed credits by the American Academy of Family Physicians. Please Note: This webinar uses the Elluminate Platform.  You will be asked to give a name and email address to sign in. At the end of the presentation, you will be … [Read more…]

Asthma Care in the Patient Centered Medical Home
January 14, 2013

“When you can’t breathe, nothing else matters, ” according to Lois Wessel, RN, CFNP. In this video, Ms. Wessel talks about asthma care in the context of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH). Her 15-minute presentation was recorded at the “Clearing the Air” asthma disparities conference held at the Maritime Institute Conference Center in Linthicum, MD on June 28th, 2011. … [Read more…]

Asthma Award Call for Applications
December 4, 2012

Are you a leader in asthma management? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently accepting applications for the 2013 National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management. If you are a health plan, health care provider, or a community in action that has demonstrated success in managing environmental asthma triggers as part of your comprehensive asthma management program, apply to receive recognition for your important work. Spread the Word! – New this year, EPA is seeking … [Read more…]

New Smartphone App on Tobacco Cessation
November 15, 2012

ACU has launched a new smartphone app that helps clinicians talk to patients about tobacco use. The app includes a six brief questions that clinicians can ask patients to measure their nicotine dependence. Release of the app coincides with the annual Great American Smokeout, a day when Americans are encouraged to make a plan to quit, or to plan in advance and quit smoking that day. The ACU Low Health Literacy Nicotine Addition Test scores the patient’s responses to the six questions and … [Read more…]

New CDC Asthma Surveillance Report
November 12, 2012

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new national surveillance of asthma report in November 2012, finding more Americans are living with asthma. Despite this trend, the report also finds that fewer people are dying from asthma, and the number of asthma-related hospital visits has not increased. This analysis shows more people with asthma are effectively managing and controlling the disease, leading healthier and more productive lives. … [Read more…]

Online Professional Training on Asthma Care
September 16, 2012

Two recorded webinars on comprehensive asthma management are now available online  from ACU. One webinar is in English, and the second, intended for community health workers, is available in Spanish. The two webinars compliment ACU’s other asthma online professional resources. The goal of both webinars is to improve the quality of asthma care by training health care providers to incorporate in their care plans culturally and linguistically appropriate education on environmental asthma trigger … [Read more…]

ACU’s “Cómo controlar el asma en el hogar”
August 22, 2012

Cómo controlar el asma en el hogar y motivar al personal clínico, pacientes y personas que los cuidan a tratar el asma de forma integral Este curso de 90 minutos se enfoca en cómo incorporar el control de los desencadenantes ambientales en un plan integral para disminuir los episodios de asma. La meta de este programa es capacitar a profesionales de la salud afín de mejorar la calidad de los tratamientos integrales para el asma. La capacitación sigue los lineamientos del Programa nacional de … [Read more…]

ACU’s “Building an Asthma Care Home” Training
August 15, 2012

Building an Asthma Care Home: Engaging Clinicians, Patients and Caregivers in Comprehensive Asthma Management   This 90-minute course focuses on incorporating environmental trigger control into a comprehensive asthma management plan in order to decrease asthma episodes. The goal of this program is to improve the quality of comprehensive asthma care by training health care providers to incorporate culturally and linguistically appropriate education on environmental asthma trigger management … [Read more…]

ACU Participates in Release of Federal Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities
May 31, 2012

Executive Director Kathie Westpheling spoke on behalf of ACU at a Washington, DC event May 31st marking the release of the Coordinated Federal Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities. Westpheling said “ACU is committed to working to reduce asthma health disparities in children. Our efforts include developing a clinical decision support tool for an electronic medical record that will include an environmental trigger assessment as part of a patient centered asthma care plan.” … [Read more…]

Smoking and Related Illnesses Disproportionately Affect Low-Income People
May 30, 2012

In California, 18.6 percent of individuals with low socio-economic status (SES) smoke  – a rate more than three times higher than among more affluent populations. A new California-focused report, Smoking in Low Socioeconomic Status Populations: Prevalence, Health Impact, Challenges and Recommendations, from the Break Free Alliance shows that disadvantaged populations smoke at a significantly higher rate than the general population and are much less likely to quit – which means they are also … [Read more…]

Asthma’s Impact
May 21, 2012

A new infographic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that asthma is common, disruptive and deadly, with a disproportionate impact on Blacks and Hispanics. ACU offers training for primary care providers and community workers on Building an Asthma Care Home: Engaging Clinicians, Patients and Caregivers in Comprehensive Asthma Management. Training is tailored to the needs of the audience and can be conducted in English or Spanish. Continuing professional education credit … [Read more…]

New – Comprehensive Asthma Resources
April 27, 2012

Clinicians!  Patients! Interested in resources to help reduce asthma triggers in the home? Do you want to  find out unique and successful ways to control your asthma? If so, look no further because the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved’s (ACU) Asthma Resource List is now available online. Here in one location, you can find resources including clinical guidelines, patient education and self-management materials, policy briefs, asthma reports, clinical toolkits, mobile technology and … [Read more…]

Online Community Advances Asthma Care
March 27, 2012

ACU belongs to the EPA’s AsthmaCommunityNetwork.org, an interactive online community designed for asthma champions to share, learn, and connect with peers to advance asthma care. Join this national network of community-based programs and access cutting-edge tools, the latest strategies and hundreds resources in asthma care and management. … [Read more…]

Respiratory Therapists: Key Players in Asthma Care
March 1, 2012

Carole Dorr, RT, is a Registered Therapist at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Lois Wessel, CFNP, ACU’s Associate Director for Programs and asthma project co-director, interviewed Carole to get a sense of her role in asthma care and education as part of a transdisciplinary health care team. Q. What kind of training do respiratory therapists receive? A. Graduation from an accredited Respiratory Therapy Program is required to become a Respiratory Therapist (RT); more … [Read more…]