Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science
Asthma & Pulmonary Disease
Failure to receive daily controller medication is a problem that leads to poor asthma outcomes in children. What if the answer to a single question concerning a child’s regular medication could help healthcare providers sort out the highest-risk children with asthma? Associate Professor Mona G.Tsoukleris, PharmD, in collaboration with investigators at the Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland Schools of Medicine, sampled children and their families to find that caregiver response to a question regarding asthma control medication largely determined the use and misuse patterns associated with poor asthma outcomes.
With 15 years of experience in working with adults and children with asthma, Tsoukleris repeatedly encountered poor inhaler techniques in patients and many of the generalist health professionals caring for them. She responded to this observation with an Internet-based training program for students, residents and fellows to improve health provider knowledge of appropriate techniques for inhaled drug delivery. Her program improves provider knowledge and will be tested to determine if it results in improved patient outcomes. Asthma clinical care and research are a perfect example of how PPS translates evidence into practice, while also improving the performance of the pharmacists and other healthcare providers.
The following recent publications provide a more detailed discussion of PPS faculty work in this subject area:
Mudd K, Bollinger ME, Hsu VD, Manning A, Tsoukleris M, Butz A. Concordance of Medicaid and pharmacy record data in underserved children with asthma. Contemp Clin Trials 2008; 29(1):13-20.
Scarpaci L, Tsoukleris MG, McPherson ML. Assessment of hospice nurses' technique in the use of inhalers and nebulizers. J Palliat Med 2007;10(3):665-76.
Walker J, Lewis-Land C, Kub J, Tsoukleris M, Butz A. The effect of violence on asthma: are our children facing a double-edged sword? J Community Health 2008 Jun 26.