• Esli Osmanlliu, Matthew Slimovitch, Olivier Drouin, Nathalie Lucas, Jocelyn Gravel, and Nathalie Gaucher.
• Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, CHU Sainte-Justine, 3175, Ch. de La Côte Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, QC, H3T 1C5, Canada.
• CJEM. 2021 Sep 1; 23 (5): 663-667.

BackgroundThe management of children with an asthma exacerbation includes timely systemic corticosteroids and frequent short-acting beta-agonist therapy. In selected patients, inhaled short-acting beta-agonist administration by parents may promote comfort, constitute an educational opportunity for the family, and safely reduce provider workload. Our objective was to evaluate parental satisfaction and perceived safety of this new approach.MethodThis was a cross-sectional study, conducted in a tertiary pediatric ED. We investigated patient and parent perspectives on a newly implemented parental short-acting beta-agonist administration program. A convenience sample of families participating in this program was approached for study enrolment. The primary outcome was the proportion of parents and children who were satisfied with the program. We also evaluated the program's safety and impact on asthma education as reported by parents.ResultsFrom February 2019 to March 2020, 72 of 74 (97%) families approached for enrolment participated in the survey. A vast majority (95%) of parents appreciated the program and 93% would participate again. Among children > 7 years, 86% preferred receiving inhaled short-acting beta-agonist by their parents rather than by a healthcare provider. Nearly all parents (96%) found the program to be "safe" or "very safe". Some participants reported improvements in their inhaler administration technique (25%) and ability to recognize their child's respiratory distress (25%).ConclusionA novel parental short-acting beta-agonist administration program in the pediatric ED was widely appreciated by participating families. Parents perceived it as being safe, educational, and contributing to their child's comfort.© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP)/ Association Canadienne de Médecine d'Urgence (ACMU).

16 keywords...

hide…