Impacts of a provincial asthma guidelines continuing medical education project: The Ontario Asthma Plan of Action's Provider Education in Asthma Care Project.

Background: The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care funded the Ontario Lung Association to develop and implement a continuing medical education program to promote implementation of the Canadian asthma guidelines in primary care.

Objectives: To determine baseline knowledge, preferred learning format, satisfaction with the program and reported impact on practice patterns.

Methods: A 3 h workshop was developed that combined didactic presentations and small group case discussions.

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.