Schoolnurse’s Weblog

In the United States, 17.3 million people of all ages with have asthma, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One child in 13 (about 5 million) has been diagnosed with asthma, making it the most common chronic illness of childhood (Adams & Marano, 1994). Adams, P.F. & Marano, M.A. (1994). Current estimates from the National Health Interview Survey. Vital Health Statistics 1995, 10(193), 1094.

In the school district where I work Asthma is taken very seriously.  Our goal is to have a plan for each child with Asthma, and for the students to have access to their medications as well as a Registered Nurse available to assess their condition.  The School Nurses work very hard to educate teachers, staff, administrators, and parents on how to help students manage their Asthma in the school setting.

This school year I noticed a gap in the education we provide.  I found students that students were coming to the Health Office with breathing problems, and they were unable to describe their symptoms, and some were even unaware that they had Asthma.  It was time to educate students themselves on Asthma management.

I did not find Asthma education materials on the Internet that I thought would be appropriate for my students, so I made my own. It was made with software called ezedia, and requires the ezedia player. We decided to keep track of the students’ peak flow measurements, so important because the students could not always tell us if they were in distress.   The Cornell University has a great website with medical calculators, and we used their online peak flow calculator. You have to know the student’s height, and the calculator will tell you what the expected normal peak flow should be.  If you also input their current peak flow, it will tell what percentage of normal the meqasurement was.  That number should be more than 80%.  Since internet access is not always possible, I added formulas to a spreadsheet I found.