• Danielle K Maue, Alvaro J Tori, Andrew L Beardsley, Nadia L Krupp, Acrista J Hole, Elizabeth As Moser, and Courtney M Rowan.
• Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine/Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, Indianapolis, IN. dmaue@iu.edu.
• Respir Care. 2019 Nov 1; 64 (11): 1358-1365.

BackgroundStatus asthmaticus is one of the most frequent admission diagnoses in the pediatric ICU (PICU). Collaboration between respiratory therapists (RTs) and physicians may help efficiently deliver care to a patient in status asthmaticus. The Pediatric Asthma Severity Score (PASS) is a measure of severity of a patient's asthma exacerbation at a point in time. The aim of this quality improvement initiative was to establish an RT-driven continuous albuterol weaning protocol using the PASS score. We hypothesized that this would decrease the duration of continuous albuterol without increasing adverse events.MethodsThis was a single-center implementation study in the PICU of a quaternary care children's hospital. Patients with a diagnosis of status asthmaticus who met criteria on continuous albuterol between September 2015 and September 2017 were included. An interdisciplinary team established the protocol, order sets, documentation, and education for involved staff. Qualifying subjects were assessed by an RT per protocol and assigned a PASS score, and the albuterol dose was adjusted on the basis of the PASS score.ResultsWe compared 104 subjects studied before the implementation of this protocol (September 2015 to August 2016) to 117 subjects after the implementation of this protocol (September 2016 to October 2017). Median (interquartile range) duration of continuous albuterol in the PICU post-implementation was unchanged compared to pre-implementation: 12.1 (7.2-21.0) h versus 11.1 (6-19) h (P = .22). Median PICU length of stay was also unchanged post-implementation compared to pre-implementation: 19.5 (14.3-29.7) h versus 23.2 (15.2-31.3) h (P = .16). Using control charts, these processes were stable. There was no difference in adverse events.ConclusionsAn interprofessionally-developed, RT-driven continuous albuterol weaning protocol can be implemented without negatively impacting duration of continuous albuterol or PICU length of stay and without increasing adverse events.Copyright © 2019 by Daedalus Enterprises.

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