Study shows coaches need more asthma ed

In a recent blog entry over at About.com by Pat Bass, "Coaches not prepared to help students with asthma," he mentions a recent study presented at the meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians that shows that child coaches are not prepared to care for kids having an asthma attack.

According to the study:

• 35% of coaches felt they had adequate training to be prepared for an asthma emergency.
  
• Half of coaches could not recall any asthma symptoms of asthma
• 25% could name only one asthma symptom
• Less than half of coaches said they were notified of a student self-medicating asthma symptoms
• More than 70% said they had no available medical assistance during practice or games.

There is really no surprise here. Yet I think they should take this study and compare it with similar ones performed 30 years ago and see if there is any improvement. Despite these results, are coaches more asthma wise than 30 years ago? That's what I'd like to know.

Great Asthma Educational Links

So, you want to keep up to date on all the latest asthma wisdom, but you're not quite sure where to find it. I would like to help you.

What follows is a list of all my favorite links for obtaining asthma wisdom.

1. MyAsthmaCentral.com: Great asthma community that also provides a plethora of up to date asthma wisdom and advice. Plus they have asthma experts like me who write weekly columns.
2. National Jewish Health: The worlds foremost experts on asthma. They have an inpatient program for hard to manage asthma cases and also do extensive asthma research. They provide some easy to follow instructions regarding asthma for both child and adult asthma. I was a patient at this hospital as a kid and I learned a ton about asthma. From their website my asthma wisdom continues to grow.
3. American Lung Association: Any lung illness is covered here. They provide basic information about asthma and all the latest research.
4. American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology: Another good site for basic asthma knowledge and some.
5. Asthma Mom: What better place to learn about asthma than from a mom of an asthmatic. She'll keep you up to date on all the latest asthma wisdom you may not find anyplace else, plus she adds the personal perspective you may get nowhere else.
6. Alltop: If I missed any good links this one pretty much should cover it. Alltop has a link to all the best asthma links. I'm sure if something is missing they'd be sure to add it.

There you have it. I'm sure there are more great asthma links out there on the world wide web, but these are the ones I reference the most. If you know of another great link let me know and I'll add it.