Everyone with asthma gets sick once in a while and needs to see their clinician for sick visits.  However, for any chronic disease such as asthma, it is important to make and keep regular appointments with your child’s clinician even when your child is healthy. 

These regular visits can help in many ways.  For example, they can help to: keep your Asthma Action Plan up-to-date; to answer any questions and solve any problems that have arisen; to refill your medicines; to look for early signs of any complications; review inhaler and spacer technique; and many more.  But to get the most out of your visits, it is helpful to know what to expect, and how to prepare ahead of time.  The following are some tips that will make your clinician visits more helpful for you.

How to prepare for a clinician visit

1. Keep track of your child’s asthma symptoms
   
   
2. Keep track of your child’s peak flow readings and bring to your visit
   
   
3. Bring your child’s medications to your visit
   
   
4. Keep track of any questions you might have

Questions to ask your clinician

1. How severe is my child’s asthma?
   
   
2. How do I give my child his/her medication(s)?
   
   
3. What is my child’s personal best peak flow?
   
   
4. How do I use a peak flow meter, or spacer, or nebulizer?
   
   
5. What is, or are there any changes to, my child’s Asthma Action Plan?
   
   
6. What are the possible common side effects of his/her medications?
   
   

What the clinician might do

1. Ask about your child’s asthma symptoms
   1. What are the symptoms?
   2. When did the symptoms start?
   3. When do the symptoms happen?
   4. How often do the symptoms occur?
   5. What makes the symptoms worse?
   6. Do symptoms affect activities of daily living
      (like sleep, school and exercise)?
   7. What do you do for the symptoms?
      
      
2. Ask about family history of asthma or allergies
   
   
3. Ask about the child’s environment
   
   
4. Ask about emergency room visits and hospitalizations
   
   
5. Ask about the child’s medications
   
   
6. Review how to take medications
   
   
7. May do spirometry or peak flow reading in the office

Make sure you understand everything your clinician tells you.  If there is something that is not clear, don’t be shy and do ask questions.  It is usually very helpful to get any instructions written down, so you can look at them later to remind you.

There are some clinicians (Allergists and Pulmonologists) that specialize in taking care of children with asthma.  However, many children with asthma can be well controlled by their primary care clinician.  It is not necessary for every child with asthma to see a specialist since most can receive the same high-quality care from their primary care clinicians.  However, referral for specialty care is recommended when:

1. Child has had a life-threatening attack
   
   
2. Child is having hospital admissions or emergency visits even when receiving usual asthma treatment
   
   
3. Child is not getting better with the usual types of treatments
   
   
4. Asthma has any unusual signs and symptoms
   
   
5. Asthma is complicated with other medical problems
   
   
6. More diagnostic testing is needed (including allergy testing)
   
   
7. May need treatment with allergy shots (immunotherapy)
   
   
8. Has severe persistent asthma (highest severity of asthma)
   
   
9. Family needs additional asthma education
   
   
10. Child is under age 3 years and has moderate or severe persistent asthma
    
    
11. Has needed oral steroids many times or for a long time