SA³MPRO^TM Background

Childhood asthma is a common, chronic pediatric condition, affecting 6.3 million children. Morbidity from childhood asthma adversely affects school performance, with 1 in 2 children reporting school absences due to asthma each year. These asthma related absences influence academic achievement, leading to decreased levels of reading proficiency and increased risk of learning disabilities. Improving health and school-related outcomes for children with asthma requires the use of school-based partnerships that focus on integrated care coordination amongst families, clinicians, and school nurses.

For asthma care, (SA³MPRO™) advocates four components to integrate schools, and specifically school nurses, within the asthma care team. These components are:
1.    The creation of a Circle of Support amongst the families, clinicians, and school nurses centered around the child with asthma.
2.    The creation and transmission of Asthma Management Plans to schools. This includes an Asthma Emergency Treatment Plan for emergency management of asthma symptoms and an individualized Asthma Action Plan (AAP) for each child with asthma. A standardized AAP is available.
3.    A comprehensive Asthma Education Plan for school personnel.
4.    A comprehensive Environmental Asthma Plan to assess and remediate asthma triggers at home and in school.

SA³MPRO™ standardizes recommendations for school- based asthma management, and provides websites and resources useful for the care of children with asthma in the school setting.

Who should use this toolkit?

This toolkit is intended for school nurses, education administrators, clinicians, or healthcare administrators who are interested in implementing the at their school or organization.

What does the toolkit contain?

The SA³MPRO™ Toolkit contains several tools to help you implement the key components of SA³MPRO™:
•    Establishing the Circle of Support: Tools for engaging clinicians, school nurses, and families, and how to foster good communication between them.
•    Using and transmitting the Asthma Emergency Treatment Plan and an Asthma Action Plan
•    Tools for the school nurse to provide asthma education to school personnel
•    Additional resources to support effective school-based management of asthma

How should these tools be used?

The enclosed tools will provide information for feasible implementation of SA³MPRO™ into local communities.

Development of this toolkit

The SA³MPRO™ Toolkit was developed by the stakeholders in the SA³MPRO™ Summit Stakeholder Workforce, listed below.

This project was supported by funding from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) and the National Association of School Nurses (NASN). Additional support was provided by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s Health Innovation Program (HIP), the Wisconsin Partnership Program, and the Community-Academic Partnerships core of the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (UW ICTR), grant 9 U54 TR000021 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (previously grant 1 UL1 RR025011 from the National Center for Research Resources). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or other funders.

SA³MPRO™ Summit Stakeholder Workforce

Allergy & Asthma Network*
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology*
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Pediatrics*
American Association of School Administrators
American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology*
American Lung Association
American Public Health Association
American Thoracic Society*
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
Asthma Initiative of Michigan
Boston Children’s Hospital
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin
Children’s Hospital of Colorado Breathing Institute
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin
Connecticut Children’s Asthma Center
Denver Public Schools, Department of Nursing & Student Health Services
Harvard Medical School
Kennett Public Schools, Missouri
Minneapolis Public Schools
Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services
National Association of Chronic Disease Directors
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association of School Nurses*
National Education Association
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease
Olmsted County Public Health Services
St. Louis Children’s Hospital
St. Louis University
State of Wisconsin, Department of Public Instruction
The Rush University Prevention Center
The University of Texas at Austin, School of Nursing
University of Connecticut
University of Rochester, New York
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy
US Environmental Protection Agency

* Denotes organizations that have endorsed the SA³MPRO™ whitepaper

5/22/2023