Rethinking asthma from business to bedside.

Objective: To explore the possible application of concepts, methods, and tools validated in the worlds of statistics, business, engineering, and system dynamics to improve insight and outcomes in asthma care.

Data Sources: Peer-reviewed articles, books, and other publications on the topic of asthma care, dating back to 1931, were retrieved using MEDLINE searches and other external sources. Searches were restricted to include only studies with human subjects and the English language as descriptors, and the terms used included the following: system dynamics, statistical process control charts, continual improvement, mental models, personal mastery, systems thinking, team learning, and shared vision.