A STUDY OF ACUTE ASTHMA MANAGEMENT IN AN ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Objectives: To assess the current practice of patient evaluation and treatment in the Accident and Emergency department (A&E). Design: A retrospective study was conducted to assess management of patients with acute asthma attending the A&E department of King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH) from 1 August 1989 to 31 July 1990. Subjects: The study population comprised 4325 patients with acute asthma attending the A&E department on 5101 times during the 12-month period. Intervention: Different methods of assessing the severity of asthmatic patients were hardly reported in the A&E patient charts. Results: The failure to record objective measurements of the severity of asthma, in particular, the extent of airflow obstruction and under-use of systematic corticosteroids were of major concern in this study. Conclusions and Recommendations: It is recommended that portable spirometers should be available in A&E departments and treating physicians should be trained in their use. A special form for asthmatic patients can be developed to facilitate recording of important information.