This project was conducted August 2010 – August 2015 and was funded by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) tested the effectiveness of the Asthma APGAR system in rural family medicine practices. Twenty rural family medicine practices (members of a PBRN) were randomized to intervention: implementation and integration of the Asthma APGAR, or usual care. Outcomes include patient asthma outcomes as well as practice process measures. Participating practices had 15 months to enroll approximately 75 patients, with a 24-month follow-up period for each patient enrolled. Patients enrolled had a current diagnosis of asthma, be between the ages of 5 and 60, and agreed to complete five survey packets at baseline, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months.
The specific aims for this project were:
Use of Asthma APGAR Tools in Primary Care Practices: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial. Yawn BP, Wollan PC, Rank MA, Bertram SL, Jubn Y, Pace W. Ann Fam Med 2018 16:98-99.
Comparing the Asthma APGAR System and the Asthma Control Test in a Multicenter Primary Care Sample. Rank MA, Bertram SB, Wollan P, Yawn RA, Yawn BP. Mayo Clin Proc. 2014;89(7):917-925
Protocol for the asthma tools study: a pragmatic practice-based research network trial. Yawn BP, Bertram S, Kurland M, Wollan P, Graham D, Littlefield D, Smail C, Pace W. Pragmatic and Observational Research. 2013 Jun; 7-14.
Communications in the Key to Success in Pragmatic Clinical Trials in Practice-based Research Networks (PBRNs). Bertram S, Graham DG, Kurland M, et al. J Am Board Fam Med. 2013;26(5):571-8.