Prehospital management of pediatric asthma requiring hospitalization.

Our objective was to evaluate the quality of prehospital assessment and management in pediatric asthma requiring hospitalization via a retrospective chart review. Charts were obtained from a pediatric emergency department (ED) with 24,000 annual visits. Included in the study were 27 patients less than 18 years of age with asthma requiring hospitalization, transported to the Boston City Hospital Pediatric ED by Boston Emergency Medicine Services (EMS). We found that 12 patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit over an 18-month period, and 15 patients admitted to the ward over a six-month period, received prehospital care from Boston EMS. Only 63% of cases (17/27) had a physical examination marker of asthma severity noted on the EMS record. Twenty-six percent of cases (7/27) did not receive O2 in the field. Thirty percent of cases (8/27) were hypoxic at ED presentation. None of the hypoxic patients had received albuterol in the field, and one did not receive O2. We conclude that further study of the prehospital assessment and management of pediatric asthma is warranted.