Our findings suggest that the educational tool has a positive effect on WRA knowledge, and that knowledge may be retained long-term. Future studies are needed in non-tertiary care clinic populations which may possess less baseline knowledge of WRA.

RATIONALE: The asthma guidelines identify patient-provider communication and patient satisfaction as a key component of the clinician's follow-up assessment of asthma. We developed a survey to monitor current practices in patient-provider communication and patient satisfaction. METHODS: Adult asthma patients presenting to the UI Health primary care clinics or subspecialty clinics (pulmonary and allergy/immunology) were administered a 31-item questionnaire to evaluate current practices in patient-provider communication and patient satisfaction. RESULTS: Forty-five subjects were recruited: 20 from the primary care clinics and 25 from the subspecialty clinics. Asthma control as measured by ACT was lower in the subspecialty clinics (12.96 +/-6.46) than in the primary care clinics (18.90 +/-4.52) (p < 0.01). Number of unscheduled visits due to uncontrolled asthma was higher in subspecialty clinics than in primary care clinics (2.84 vs. 0.90; p 5 0.03). Only 5% of primary care subjects report receiving an Asthma Action Plan versus 76% of the subspecialty subjects. Despite these differences, subjects in both clinics reported comparable degrees of patient satisfaction (95% versus 92% respectively). When asked ''how to improve their asthma care'', subjects in primary care identified asthma & inhaler use education, whereas those in subspecialty care identified access to care. CONCLUSIONS: Despite worse asthma control and increased healthcare utilization in the pulmonary and allergy/immunology subspecialty clinics, subjects reported comparable levels of satisfaction with their asthma care. Improved asthma education in primary care clinics and better access of care to subspecialty patients may improve asthma control in each specific clinic setting.