Asthma affects more than 9.5 million children in the U.S., according to a 2009 report by the National Center for Health Statistics. It is the most common chronic childhood disease, limiting activities and causing more missed school among children ages 5 to 7 years old than any other condition. As part of the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital safety culture transformation, we are pursuing national and internal goals that show our extraordinary commitment to exceptional care.

Why We Measure

Many young people live with asthma, which is why we are committed to providing the highest level of care and decreasing risks. By tracking our behaviors in a measurable way, we can:

See where mistakes are most likely to happen
Change how we do things to reduce risks
Educate ourselves at all levels to increase success rates

How We Measure

To meet our goal of being the leading children's hospital in asthma care, we monitor three asthma care measures that are nationally recognized by The Joint Commission, an organization that sets standards and care recommendations for health care quality improvements.

We use relief medications to control asthma symptoms for inpatients ages 2 to 17 years old.
We use systemic medications to reduce airway inflammation and control more severe symptoms for inpatients ages 2 to 17 years old.
We provide a detailed asthma action plan with seven mandatory measures for prevention, preparation and follow-up care to complete at home.

How We're Doing

For the last quarter of 2010, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital placed in the top 15 percent of reporting pediatric institutions in all three of The Joint Commission's asthma care measures. In nine of the last 12 months, we performed these three asthma care measures at discharge 100 percent of the time. Here are some other impressive results over the last few years.

Relief Medications

Since 2008, we have maintained a compliance rate of 100 percent or nearly 100 percent.

Systemic Medications

Since 2008, we have maintained a compliance rate of more than 97 percent.
In 2010, we achieved 99 percent compliance.

Asthma Action Plan

In fall 2008, when training began, our compliance rate for completing the asthma action plan was 21 percent. By December 2008, our rate was 83 percent.
Our rate steadily increased over the last few years. In 2010, we reached 86 percent compliance and our readmissions rate among asthma patients was only 1.33 percent.