Children Who Received Reliever Medication While Hospitalized for Asthma

Asthma is a chronic lung condition causing airway obstruction. Children with asthma may experience wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and trouble breathing. These symptoms are triggered as a result of the body’s reaction to environmental changes such as allergens or changes in temperature.

This measure identifies the percentage of children with asthma who received reliever medication (i.e., albuterol) during their hospitalization. Reliever medications relax the bands of muscle surrounding the airways to improve breathing.  National guidelines for treatment of children with asthma recommend using relievers in the severe phase and gradually decreasing the dosage of medications to provide control of asthma symptoms.  Using the appropriate asthma medication and medication dosage lowers the risk of severe illness and/or death.

At SBUH, 100% of 48 eligible pediatric patients received a reliever medication.

A high score is better than a low score.

	The SBUH 2009-20010 score is for the period October 2009 to September 2010.
	The New York State average score summarizes the average of health care organizations throughout New York State reporting to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Currently, the New York State average scores have not been compiled.
	The U.S. average score summarizes the average of health care organizations throughout the United States reporting to the CMS for the period October 2009 to September 2010.
	Top 10% score summarizes results from the best 10% of health care organizations that are members of the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC).

See our results over time

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