Easy Breathing for Schools is a nurse-centered school-based asthma program designed to identify students with asthma who are at high risk for adverse outcomes and to assist school nurses in better managing those students.

The goal of Easy Breathing for Schools is to improve asthma control and reduce asthma-related school absenteeism.

How Easy Breathing for Schools Works

Easy Breathing for Schools provides school nurses with a systematic way to manage students with asthma and provides them with the tools they need to successfully do that. The program is simple, easy for school nurses to use, time considerate and effective.

The program can be implemented for all students who are diagnosed with asthma, regardless of the severity of their condition or their risk for adverse outcomes. It can also be implemented solely for students who are diagnosed with asthma and are at high risk for adverse outcomes.

There are four main components of the program for which simple tools have been designed to assist school nurses:

  • Identifying students at risk for asthma problems during the school year by using a student asthma survey
  • Assessing asthma control by implementing an Asthma Control Testâ„¢
  • Assessing the technique students are using with their inhalers by incorporating an inhaler technique checklist
  • Communicating with clinicians and families through an asthma referral checklist

Results

During the first year of Easy Breathing for Schools, 19 school nurses and healthcare practitioners were trained from September 2015 to March 2016. These nurses implemented the program with 142 individual students, ages 5-14, across 16 different schools in Hartford.

Results from our earlier pilot study showed a 12 percent decrease in absenteeism for children with asthma who were enrolled in the program during the 2013-2015 school years.

Please contact Sigrid Almeida, BS, RA at 860.837.5343 or via email for further information at salmeida [at] connecticutchildrens.org.

Learn more about the Easy Breathing asthma management program for community providers.