Scope and Target Population:

This guideline addresses the diagnosis and outpatient management of acute and chronic asthma in all patients over five years of age who present with asthma-like symptoms or have been diagnosed with asthma.

Clinical Highlights for Individual Clinicians:

1. Conduct interval evaluations of asthma including medical history and physical examination, assessment of asthma triggers and allergens, measurement of pulmonary function, and consideration of consultation and/or allergy testing.
   
2. Regularly assess asthma control.
   
3. Match medical intervention with asthma severity and adjust to correspond with change over time.
   
4. Achieve effective control of chronic persistent asthma through use of inhaled corticosteroid therapy
   
5. Provide asthma education to patients and parents of pediatric patients. Education should include basic facts about asthma, how medications work, inhaler technique, a written action plan including home peak flow rate monitoring or a symptom diary, environmental control measures, and emphasis on the need for regular follow-up visits.

Priority Aims:

1. Promote the accurate assessment of asthma severity through the use of objective measures of lung function.
   
2. Promote long-term control of persistent asthma through the use of inhaled corticosteroid drug therapy.
   
3. Promote the partnership of patients with asthma and/or their parents with health care professionals through education and the use of written action plans.

Additional Background:
This guideline closely follows the recommendations of the: National Asthma Education Program Expert Panel Report 2, Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma. NIH Publication No. 97-4051. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service/National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.