Symptom management
Before you begin, have you completed the first three modules in this series about asthma?
Part one: Understanding asthma
Part two: Managing asthma
Part three: Pharmacological treatment
As the focus of asthma treatment is on symptom management, validated tools such as the Asthma Control Test (ACT) use questions about specific symptoms to rate asthma control. In primary care, although less well validated, the Royal College of Practitioners (RCP) three questions are used as they are explicitly required for the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). A response of ‘no’ to all three of the following questions is consistent with well-controlled asthma.
In the last month:
- Have you had difficulty sleeping because of your asthma symptoms (including cough)?
- Have you had your usual asthma symptoms during the day (cough, wheeze, chest tightness or breathlessness)?
- Has your asthma interfered with your usual activities (for example, housework, work, school, etc.)?