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Effect of Nurse Practitioner Visits on Health Outcomes in African American Teens With Asthma

This study examined the effects of nurse practitioner (NP) health assessment and educational re-enforcement visits on health outcomes in low-income African American teens with asthma. NP visits were part of a larger randomized controlled trial (n = 135) to determine the effects of an asthma intervention. Asthma morbidity and mortality are of particular concern in minority youth living in poverty. School-based NPs have a unique opportunity to assist students improve their asthma self-care practices. Adolescents were recruited from five African American dominant high schools serving lowincome areas of Chicago. NP visits included an asthma health assessment and re-enforcement of asthma education and skills necessary to manage asthma. Descriptive data analyses, including NP visit data and student asthma health outcomes, were performed. Frequencies of all variables were examined. Correlations and t tests were used to analyze the data. For all analyses, two-sided tests and a p value ≤ .05 were considered significant. The number of NP visits ranged from 1 to 7, with a mean of 3.16. There were significant differences between the number of NP visits and the ability to describe key asthma care aspects such as the identification of asthma medications (p = .04). Preliminary results suggest a positive relationship between the number of NP visits and the students’ appropriate use of urgent care versus emergency room visits (p = .08). Findings of this study indicated that NP visits had a positive effect on aspects of student’s self-care practices. Teens acquired a higher level of awareness for their resources and intervened appropriately. NP visits combined with a school-based asthma intervention program have the ability to enhance asthma health outcomes of low-income minority teens.