An Evidence-Based Educational Presentation on Spirometry in the Pediatric Primary Care Setting

Abstract

Purpose. This quality improvement (QI) project assessed the efficacy of a 20-minute medical assistant (MA) focused, evidence-based educational presentation on understanding key components of Spirometry and its role in asthma management for pediatric patients. Background. Both global and national asthma diagnosis and management guidelines recommend the use of spirometry for pediatric patients aged 6 years and older. Although spirometry plays a vital role in the diagnosis of asthma, the lack of expertise and confidence in operating spirometry for children remains a significant challenge for pediatric primary practice settings. Methods. This QI project was developed using a quantitative, single-group, pretest/posttest design. Participants in the QI project will consist of a convenience sample of pediatric primary care MAs at Chiricahua Community Health Centers, Inc. (CCHCI). Pre-education and post-education questionnaires were utilized to measure MA knowledge. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were used for data analysis. Results. Following the educational presentation, results demonstrated an 18% increase in knowledge of spirometry key components and their significance for pediatric patients with asthma in primary care among the 11 MAs who participated in the in-person educational presentation. The mean score of the pretest questionnaire was 59%, while the average score of the posttest questionnaire was 77%. A paired t-test resulted in a value of 0.0037, which is statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusions. Pediatric primary care spirometry operators, such as medical assistants and registered nurses, play a critical role in obtaining high-quality spirometry testing. Spirometry 11 operators must be equipped with the current and best practice measures to successfully perform spirometry testing. This QI project suggests that an evidence-based educational presentation on spirometry improves MA knowledge of the key components of spirometry testing and its significance for pediatric patients with asthma in the primary care setting.