The Calgary COPD & Asthma Program: The role of the respiratory therapy profession in primary care.

Respiratory therapy is a profession with the depth and breadth required to care for clients by "" [1]. Registered Respiratory Therapists (RRTs) work in a variety of settings from critical and acute care to primary and home care. After a brief overview of the models and competencies that underpin the work of the Calgary COPD & Asthma Program, the article provides a description of the program and discuss how RRT Certified Respiratory Educators provide services within the program.

Outcomes of asthma education: results of a multisite evaluation.

Background: This observational study compared the effectiveness of a standardized adult asthma education program administered in a variety of sites and practice settings on health care utilization, absenteeism, amount of leisure time missed and quality of life (using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form 1.0 [SF-36]).

Methods: Seven asthma centres participated in an uncontrolled, multicentre, prospective, observational study using a pre-post design.

Adult Asthma Consensus Guidelines update 2003.

Background: Several sets of Canadian guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma have been published over the past 15 years. Since the last revision of the 1999 Canadian Asthma Consensus Report, important new studies have highlighted the need to incorporate new information into the asthma guidelines.

Objectives: To review the literature on adult asthma management published between January 2000 and June 2003; to evaluate the influence of the new evidence on the recommendations made in the 1999 Canadian Asthma Consensus Guidelines and its 2001 update; and to report new recommendations on adult asthma management.

Complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) in the management of asthma: an examination of the evidence.

Although individuals are using Complementary and Alternative Medical (CAM) therapies to help manage their asthma, there is no clear direction in the current guidelines for the use of CAM in asthma. This literature review undertakes to determine the current science regarding the use of CAM in asthma management. Electronic literature searched all EBM Reviews, Medline, OVID full text, and PubMed and National Complementary and Alternative Medication databases for Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT) published in English between 1997 and 2002 with keywords "asthma" and "complementary medicine" or "complementary therapy" or "alternative medicine" or "alternative therapy.