Abstract

Abstract:

Objectives. To assess the quality of asthma care within the paediatric population who attended health centres in Kingston & St. Andrew (KSA) and compare this quality to Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines. Methods and materials. Data were collected from 257 dockets of children aged 2–17 years old with asthma attending seven health centres in KSA. Results. Children aged 6–10 years accounted for 36.6% of the sample and males accounted for the majority (54.1%). There was generally poor documentation of performance indicators for asthma including written asthma action plans (1%), peak expiratory flow measurements (0%), inhaler demonstration (2.1%), and asthma control assessment (8.4%). The best documentation was for controller (60.9%) and reliever medication (63.4%) prescriptions/review. Conclusion. The study indicates that the documentation of paediatric asthma management in health centres in Jamaica is not congruous with international clinical practice guidelines and change is required.

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