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A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial to Improve Asthma Care for Children Through Provider Education and Health Systems Change: A Description of the Pediatric Asthma Care Patient Outcome Research Team (PAC-PORT II) Study Design

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Abstract

For more than a decade, there has been an effort to reduce unintended variations in care and improve clinical outcomes through the widespread development and dissemination of clinical practice guidelines yet a substantial body of literature suggests that few guidelines have been fully adopted into clinical practice. This manuscript describes the design of a group randomized controlled clinical trial to test two alternative strategies for promoting the adoption of asthma clinical guidelines: a peer-leader mediated physician behavior change intervention, and an intervention which applies the chronic disease model to structuring asthma care, including an asthma nurse educator compared to usual care. It is anticipated that the findings from this study will assist health care organizations in designing practical evidence-based strategies to improve the care of persons with asthma.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Midwest Center for Health Services and Policy Research, Hines VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois

    Kevin B. Weiss

  2. Institute for Health Services Research and Policy Studies, and the Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL

    Kevin B. Weiss

  3. Center for Health Studies Group Health Cooperative, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

    Paula Lozano

  4. Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, MA

    Jonathan A. Finkelstein

  5. Division of General Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA

    Jonathan A. Finkelstein

  6. Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

    Vincent Carey

  7. School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

    Sean Sullivan

  8. Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

    Anne Fuhlbrigge

  9. Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana

    Thomas S. Inui

Authors
  1. Kevin B. Weiss
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  2. Paula Lozano
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  3. Jonathan A. Finkelstein
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  4. Vincent Carey
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  5. Sean Sullivan
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  6. Anne Fuhlbrigge
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  7. Thomas S. Inui
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For the PAC-PORT II Study Team

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Correspondence to Kevin B. Weiss.

Additional information

Other members of the PAC-PORT II TEAM included: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston MA: Stephen Soumerai EdD, Kathleen Loane RN, Jeri Bryant RN, Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA: Scott Weiss MD, Nancy Laranjo, Jim Donahue DVM, Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative, Seattle WA: Edward H. Wagner MD, Cynthia Sisk MS, Virginia Lincicome RN, Julia Hecht, PhD, Northwestern University Feignberg School of Medicine: Kelly Arduino, MBA, Rush-Prudential Health Plans, Chicago IL: Reeva Shulruff MD, Carol Jones RN, American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village IL: Lynn Olson PhD, and Linda Asmussen MS.

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Weiss, K.B., Lozano, P., Finkelstein, J.A. et al. A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial to Improve Asthma Care for Children Through Provider Education and Health Systems Change: A Description of the Pediatric Asthma Care Patient Outcome Research Team (PAC-PORT II) Study Design. Health Serv Outcomes Res Method 4, 265–282 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10742-005-5560-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10742-005-5560-2

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