The prehospital management of children with acute asthma.

Parents of 100 children admitted sequentially to hospital with acute asthma were interviewed in order to determine the frequency of the use of asthma action plans and the intensity of prehospital treatment. The results revealed that 51% of the parents possessed some form of action plan and 84% of this group used their plan prior to the child's admission to hospital. However 79% of those children with more than two prior hospital admissions for asthma had an action plan. Bronchodilator therapy was widely used, with widespread possession of nebulizer units, but tended to be given infrequently prior to hospital admission. Steroid use in the acute attack was inadequate. Despite a concurrent national asthma campaign prehospital management was considered to be suboptimal.