QUALITY OF CARE OF ASTHMATIC CHILDREN: CLINICIANS ADHERENCE TO ASTHMA GUIDELINES

Bronchial asthma is a chronic disease of respiratory tract constituting a serious public health problem all over the world. It is estimated that the number of patients with asthma is close to 300 million people. In a population of children and adolescents, bronchial asthma occurs with frequency of 5-10%, updated guidelines on bronchial asthma have been issued by two major international institutes, namely, GINA (Global Initiative for Asthma) and NAEPP (National Asthma Education and Prevention Program). Both have not addressed the problems related to developing countries.Method:Type of the study: cross sectional studySubject: Physicians meeting the following criteria were identified:(1) Involved in direct childhood asthma care.(2) Practice location in Egypt.(3) General practitioners, general pediatrician or pediatrician with subspeciality in pediatric allergy and immunology, pediatric critical care, or pediatric pulmonology.Type of sample is simple random sample, analysis of data was done by IBM computer using SPSS (statistical program for social science version 19.Conclusion:In this study we found that the majority of the physicians had good knowledge about asthma diagnosis and management in comparison to their practice, assessment of asthma severity was lacking at most of the physicians, poor knowledge, practice and attitude are strongly related to qualification level, the degree of poor practice is the most prominent.