There’s definitely a need to innovate and develop new treatments in the area of asthma, but it’s easy to underestimate the barriers to just doing what we already know, such as making sure that people are following existing, well-established guidelines on how to treat asthma. My colleague, Elizabeth Matsui, has written about the challenges in a study that we are collaborating on:
Our group is currently conducting a study that includes implementation of national guidelines-based medical care for asthma, so that one process that we’ve had to get right is to prescribe an appropriate dose of medication and get it into the family’s hands. [emphasis added]
Seems simple, right?