Educating parents and carers to manage children’s asthma

A written asthma action plan should include: 

• a list of the child’s usual medicines (names of medicines, doses, when to take each dose) – including treatment for related conditions, such as allergic rhinitis
• clear instructions on what to do in all the following situations:
  • when asthma is getting worse (e.g. when needing more reliever than usual, waking up with asthma, more symptoms than usual, asthma is interfering with usual activities)
  • when asthma symptoms get substantially worse (e.g. when needing reliever again within 3 hours, experiencing increasing difficulty breathing, waking often at night with asthma symptoms)
  • during an asthma emergency.
• instructions on when and how to get medical care (including contact telephone numbers)
• the name and contact details of the child’s emergency contact person (e.g. parent)
• the name of the person writing the action plan, and the date it was issued.