Effect of Virtual Care Given To Child Patients With Asthma On Disease Management And Quality

Children in virtual care group (VCG) were given distance asthma education for the first month. The education was given in groups of 5-6 children. Also, short videos were taken by the researcher on how to use medications and nebulizers and were shown in Zoom meetings. The education and videos were prepared by scanning the current literature and expert opinion was obtained from 2 experts in nursing education, 2 experts in pediatric nursing and a expert in the pediatric allergy field. Children and families sent asthma diaries to the researcher every 4 weeks. At the end of the first, third and sixth months, data from asthma diaries were collected via Google Forms. The Pediatric Asthma Child Quality of Life Scale score was also collected through Google Forms at the beginning and end of the sixth month. The patients received support from the researcher on case management via telephone or video call 24/7. Case management was multidisciplinary (a nurse and a specialist).

Children and families who in the control group (CG), sent asthma diaries to the researcher every 4 weeks. At the end of the first, third and sixth months, data from asthma diaries were collected via Google Forms. The Pediatric Asthma Child Quality of Life Scale score was also collected through Google Forms at the beginning and end of the sixth month. In the CG, the education routinely given by the physician during the outpatient clinic visits continued in the same way. In the name of equality of opportunity, training presentations and videos were shared with the CG at the end of the study. Also, the training presentation was converted into a booklet (videos were added to the booklet in the form of QR codes) and delivered to the clinic in printed form.