For Immediate Release
Contact: Jan Puckett Morrison
(434) 924-5679
janmorrison@virginia.edu

UVA HEALTH SYSTEM DOCTORS FIRST TO USE PDAS TO DIAGNOSE AND TREAT ASTHMA
Bedside Technology Speeds Patient Info; Reflects Trend from “What Doctors Know Best” to“What Doctors Can Find Out”

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 17, 2005 – For U.Va. Health System Drs. Scott Strayer and Kurt Elward, PDA stands not only for Personal Digital Assistant, but also Patient care Delivery for Asthma. The duo and their team of nine, community doctors are the first to evaluate the use of PDAs for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma. The year-long pilot study also reflects the national movement from narrative medicine—where doctor knows best—to evidence-based medicine, where both doctor and patient have improved access to information in order to make medical decisions.

strayerandmarit

Dr. Strayer uses his PDA to teach an asthma patient about her condition.
Photo by: Jan Puckett Morrison
“There’s very little data on the use of information technology at the bedside,” said Strayer, assistant professor of clinical family medicine. “This is breaking new ground in research. It’s also a way to get the patient involved in the treatment and diagnosis, by actually showing them information on the screen.”

The software loads onto any handheld device (all brands and models) and provides the definitions of each asthma classification, detailed lists of environmental aggravators, drug dosage guides, and a peak flow calculator to establish air volume flowing out of the lungs. (See Fig. 1 for all topics in menu.)

“Doctors have moved from being valuable for what they know to being valuable for what they can find out,” said Strayer. “We can move research from the bench to the  bedside with this tool.”


The PDA study not only helped patients learn about their medical treatment, but assisted the doctors with faster recognition of asthma classifications. Before the study, although participating doctors reported being familiar with different classifications of asthma as defined by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), only two could actually name them.  After using the guides for five months, all nine doctors participating in the study were able to correctly identify the different classifications.  Doctors were also more likely to classify patients according to NHLBI guidelines only four months into the PDA study. 
  pdastudyone
  Figure 1: Main Menu

“These are promising findings,” said Elward, assistant professor of research in family medicine, and a member of the National Institute of Health’s Coordinating Committee of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program.  “Making it easier for doctors to use national guidelines and finding a tool that makes it easier to do so have been the major challenges in asthma care.”

Strayer has used his PDA before with specialized resources to help patients stop smoking, but this is the first time such a program has been used by practicing physicians in the community.

“Community doctors should really be the ones testing the PDA,” Elward said. “They are the people doing the important work of putting the guidelines into practice. We plan to conduct additional research to determine exactly how this handheld tools improves critical aspects of asthma care and enhances outcomes.”

The full study is available at http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/news/Archives05/pdafullstudy.cfm.

- ### -