This January, the fun ‘Asthma-nauts’ space theme returns, to help Pharmacists engage parents of school aged children with asthma in improving medication management.

Kids are at most risk of an asthma flare-up during the back to school period – there is a spike in asthma attacks and hospitalisation from asthma during the first few weeks of school term each year. Contributing factors include stress, change of environment or allergens, less strict asthma management over the holidays, and new classmates potentially spreading cold and flu viruses.[i]

To help reduce the risk of back to school asthma flare ups, EasyClinic Pharmacies will be offering a service to parents of school aged children with asthma, to sit down together and review their medication management. The Pharmacists will ensure they are using their medication effectively (including inhaler technique and adherence), have an action plan to follow, and are prepared in case of an unexpected asthma emergency. The Pharmacists have engaging ‘Asthma-nauts’ resources to use, and some fun tools to help the parents with creating good habits for medication adherence.

Pharmacists are well-practiced with helping their patients with their inhaler technique. In this health promotion, we encourage them to take a more advanced approach to helping their patients, by having the Pharmacist sit down with the parent and child in a private consult area and spend more time with them understanding how they are managing their asthma, and provide education to improve medication management and asthma control.

It aims to improve asthma control for school-aged children, to reduce the risk of a flare up, and reduce hospitalisations and deaths from asthma. It is also a topic that many of our EasyClinic Pharmacists are passionate about and an opportunity to engage further within the community.


[i] National Asthma Council Australia Back to School Checklist for Kids With Asthma webpage accessed 7/11/19 https://www.nationalasthma.org.au/living-with-asthma/resources/patients-carers/factsheets/back-to-school-checklist-for-kids-with-asthma-1