What You Need To Know About An Asthma Action Plan. Su Ravindran Helps Explain.

To effectively self-manage asthma, those with the condition should know what an asthma action plan is and how important it is to create and diligently maintain one.

Having an asthma action plan

Those who have asthma or who have loved ones suffering from it know how serious and oftentimes frustrating the condition is. To give you an idea of how prevalent asthma is, as reported by the Asthma Society of Canada, 1.9 million people in Ontario suffer from some form of asthma; meanwhile, one in five children have the condition as well. As also reported, asthma is responsible for 13 million missed school days.

These are clearly serious statistics. But, what those with asthma should realize is that this is a condition that in many cases can be effectively self-managed; and it can be managed so that asthma does not interrupt daily living.

To effectively self-manage asthma, those with the condition should know what an asthma action plan is and how important it is to create and diligently maintain one. As described by the CDC, an asthma action or management plan is a written plan that a patient with asthma develops with their primary care physician to help control their symptoms of asthma.

An action plan provides a number of significant benefits: one, it helps patients track their asthma symptoms in an organized and recorded way, and also allows patients to record when they need the use of their inhaler; second, the plan describes when a patient should adjust their medication based on severity of symptoms; third, it allows a patient to better understand their asthma triggers, like exposure to pollen, dust, etc.; finally, an action plan provides a better idea of when a patient should seek emergency treatment in the case of a severe asthma attack.

The key, however, is that those with asthma create an action plan with the help of their doctor and that they take the time to record symptoms on a regular basis.

"Right now, only about 17 per cent of people with asthma create an action plan with the help of their doctors," comments Su Ravindran, a family care doctor practicing in Ontario. "That percentage is far too low and, in my opinion, more needs to be done to communicate how important action plans are in managing asthma."

Su Ravindran currently practices at Southmount Healthcare Centre where she sees and treats patients of all ages, asthma being just one of the chronic conditions that she comes into contact with nearly every day.

"For my patients with chronic asthma, I try to make a point of emphasizing how important a management plan is," comments Su Ravindran. "What's encouraging is that there's technology out there that's starting to make things easier for patients to accurately and diligently record their symptoms."

As has been frequently reported in the media, over the past two decades countries like Canada and the United States have seen dramatic increases in allergy and non-allergy type asthma, particularly in children. Though a number of reasons have been argued for this increase, what's important is that as more adults and children suffer from the condition, a broader understanding as how to manage the condition is created. Bringing greater awareness to the importance of creating an asthma action plan is an essential step in that process.