Improving Childhood Asthma Management

About the project

The Improving Childhood Asthma Management (ICAM) project helped children and families in Melbourne’s north and west receive more consistent and empowered asthma care.

Hospitals, consumers, community services and virtual care providers worked together to improve asthma education, medication support, follow-up care and links to community programs.

The project aimed to reduce avoidable emergency department presentations and hospital admissions, ensure families felt they were involved in their child’s care and strengthen connections between hospitals, community services, primary care and virtual care.

Why this project was needed

Asthma is one of the leading causes of hospital presentations for children in Victoria. Many asthma-related presentations and admissions can be prevented with consistent care, education and follow-up support.

Children in Melbourne’s north and west are more likely to experience chronic conditions including asthma, and have higher rates of asthma-related emergency department presentations than anywhere else in the state.

What the project focussed on

The project used a shared approach to improve the key steps in childhood asthma care. These focus areas were known as “MAGIC”:

• Medication provision
• Asthma action plan
• GP integration
• Inhaler and spacer technique
• Community asthma program

Together, these elements helped teams improve medication support, education, discharge planning and links to follow-up care.

What changed?

Participating services worked together to make asthma care more consistent across hospital, community, primary and virtual care settings. Families received more structured education, clearer asthma action plans, better medication support and stronger links to follow-up care after leaving hospital.

Outcomes

The project helped families leave hospital with the information, confidence and support they needed to manage their child’s asthma at home. Across participating services:

• 651 children received improved asthma medication support
• 131 families were connected with community asthma programs
• 84% of children and carers received teach-back education on how to use inhalers and spacers correctly, up from 39%
• 51% of children left hospital with a follow-up GP appointment already booked, compared with no routine process before the project

The project supported more consistent, connected and family-centred asthma care. It also strengthened collaboration between hospitals, community services, primary care and virtual care providers.

Resources

Toolkit

The ICAM toolkit supports acute health services to improve childhood asthma care. Access the ICAM toolkit.