HSI Pediatric Asthma Initiative

1
HSI Pediatric Asthma Initiative ZAP Asthma
Atlanta

• Rosa Arriaga, Ph.D.
• Director Pediatric Research

2
Overview

• Review the goals of HSI
• Review the goals of Zap Asthma Atlanta
• Share current Asthma Simulation Game

3
Health Systems Institute

• Joint Initiative between GT and Emory
• Focuses on healthcare delivery research
• Emphasize chronic care in traditional and
  non-traditional spaces
• home, the cell phone, the web

4
Why focus on Asthma

• Asthma a chronic inflammatory disorder of the
  lungs and airways that causes recurrent episodes
  of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and
  coughing
• Prevalence
• 10 or children age 10 and younger
• 10-15 of middle school and high school children
• 8 of adults (more common in women than men)
• Cost
• 46 million in 2005
• Asthma is the most common chronic disease of
  childhood and is the number one cause of
  hospitalization and absenteeism

5
Treatment practices

• Regular General Practitioner (GP) check up
• Appropriate use of prophylactic medication
• Use of peak flow meters
• Asthma action plans
• We can help improve these practices!

6
HSI Pediatric Research

• Philosophy Technology is a means to scale human
  efforts
• Over time, over space
• Important role for mobile phones, social media,
  web
• Local Develop technologies to automate current
  treatment, monitoring and management practices
• Thereby improving patient outcomes
• Taking an ecological approach to technology
  development

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ECOLOGICAL Approach
http//asthma.hsi.gatech.edu/index.php
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Zap Asthma Atlanta

• 16 member public, private partnership created to
  reduce preventable morbidity and mortality from
  asthma for children living in Atlanta's
  Empowerment Zone  
• Utilizes an "action research/participatory
  research model,"
• known asthma triggers in the home environment of
  study participants are identified and
  ameliorated,
• Utilizes the skills of trained community health
  workers,
• assist families in sustaining the environmental
  interventions.

9
Asthma in context

• Atlanta is the asthma capitol of the US
• Metro Atlanta 14
• Asthma occurs in African-American children at
  three times the national rate.
• African Americans are four times more likely to
  die from asthma than whites

10
Education is paramount!

11
Zap Simulation Game

• Game to help individuals learn about how to
  manage and monitor asthma
• http//peachtreelearning.com/

12
Zap Challenge

• Improve the game.