EXHALE: Strategies to Help People with Asthma Breathe Easier

AS-ME includes educating people with asthma and their families to:

— Use asthma medications correctly

— Reduce exposures to asthma triggers such as cockroaches or mold; and

— Manage their condition when asthma symptoms worsen.

AS-ME can be delivered in various settings, including clinics, emergency rooms, hospitals, pharmacies, schools, and homes. Nurses, certified asthma educators, community health workers, and others can deliver AS-ME.

National asthma guidelines recommend people with asthma avoid smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. Cigarette smoke can trigger asthma attacks that require ED care or hospitalization.

About 14% of U.S. adults smoke cigarettes.

Smokefree policies can reduce secondhand smoke exposure. Please see “Environmental Policies or Best Practices to Reduce Asthma Triggers: Information for Public Health Professionals."

Home visit services include:

— Home environmental assessments for common triggers of asthma attacks (for example, people with prior hospitalizations or ED visits for asthma).

— Asthma self-management education, which includes education on how to use asthma medication correctly and what to do if asthma symptoms worsen.

Public health partners including nurses, certified asthma educators, community health workers, and others can deliver home visits to people with asthma.

Effective ways to achieve guidelines-based medical management among people with asthma include:

— Analyzing medical records to identify people who could benefit from additional outreach or interventions;

— Decision support tools, such as treatment algorithms or reminders; and

— Focused training of healthcare providers.

Coordinated care includes linking people to needed healthcare and social services.

Ways to improve linkages and coordinated care among people with asthma include:

— Quality improvement initiatives;

— Patient-centered medical homes;

— Disease management or case management programs; and

— School or community-based programs.

Examples of environmental policies or best practices proven to help people with asthma include:

— Home weatherization assistance programs that provide loans or grants to low-income residents to repair or improve their homes, which can reduce asthma triggers such as mold and pests;

— Comprehensive smokefree policies that prohibit smoking in all indoor spaces of workplaces, restaurants, and bars;

— Eliminating, when possible, or reducing exposure to asthma triggers in the workplace.

Learn from our funded non-governmental organization (NGO) partners how to implement EXHALE.