The National Asthma Council Australia has launched two online clinical education packages to tackle the burden of asthma in Melbourne’s inner west.
The first is designed to be implemented in schools , the ‘Childhood Asthma Guide for Inner West Melbourne (Schools and Sports Clubs)’, is tailored for teachers to help with formulating asthma action plans, asthma first aid training and more dedicated health care such as school nursing.
Brimbank, Hobsons Bay and Maribyrnong suffer from high levels of air pollution, ranking highest in the state for emergency department presentations for asthma and wheeze in child and adolescent patients.
In particular, Yarraville and Brooklyn have been named as two of Victoria’s air pollution ‘hot spots’.
They rank seventh and eighth in Australia for air pollution concentrations, mainly from transport, industry, shipping, localised urban issues, waste fires and wood heaters.
National Asthma Council Australia senior clinical consultant Narelle Williamson said the most immediate childhood health consequences of air pollution are wheezing and asthma, as well as allergy.
“Children are especially vulnerable because their lungs are still developing and they spend a lot of time outdoors and yet the knowledge and capacity of staff to manage asthma in local school and sports clubs varies significantly,” she said.
The Schools and Sports Club education package focuses on identifying and managing asthma in children within a school or sports setting for children and adolescents five -19 years old.
The package can help in identifying signs and symptoms of asthma, identifying asthma triggers and those triggers specific to the west.
As well as how to utilise written asthma action plans and provide effective asthma management , identifying the signs of an asthma emergency and how to provide first aid treatment for an asthma attack.
A complementary clinical package Improving Childhood Asthma Management in Inner West Melbourne (Primary Health Care) has also been developed for general practitioners (GPs), practice nurses, pharmacists and allied health providers based in the inner western suburbs.
Both packages were developed by the National Asthma Council Australia as their projects for the Improving Childhood Asthma Management (ICAM) – Inner West Program; funded by the state government.
Jennifer Pittorino
