Clinical research and knowledge transfer unit on childhood asthma (CRUCA)

Development of an educational module for the teaching of the ‘’ Pediatric Respiratory Assessment Measure (pram) –an asthma severity score’’ to students and health care professionals

Our team has developed a validated clinical score to quantify the severity of an asthma exacerbation among children aged from 1 to 17 years: the PRAM (Pediatric Respiratory Assessment Measure). The PRAM has gained a lot of popularity in Canada, Great Britain and in the United States. We have also shown that its use could reduce by 20% the rate of hospitalization and by 45 minutes the length of stay in the Emergency department.

This project is therefore meant to develop and validate an e-learning audio-visual module to train health professionals and students to assess the severity of asthma flare-ups using the PRAM score. This tool consists of audio bands and video of children and was validated in more than 70 health professionals.

This teaching module will soon be available in French and English versions, on the website of the University of Montreal.

Principal investigator at the CHU Sainte-Justine
Francine M. Ducharme, M.D., M.Sc., pediatrician and clinical epidemiologist, CHU Sainte-Justine

Co-investigators
Serge Gouin, M.D., Emergency physician, pediatrician, CHU Sainte-Justine
Martha McKinney, M.D., MPH., Respirologist, pediatrician, CHU Sainte-Justine

Consultants
Martin Pusic, M.D., New York University
Jean-Guy Blais, Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Sc., Faculty of education sciences, University of Montréal

Granting organizations
Fonds facultaire de soutien à la recherche en éducation des sciences de la santé du Centre de pédagogie appliquée aux sciences de la santé (CPASS) and the Department of pediatrics of the CHU Sainte-Justine.

Financing
10 000 $

Study duration
September 2009 – December 2013

Future development
The validated version of the PRAM teaching module will be available on the Internet in the coming months in English and French versions for health professionals and students.

Project team
Anab Lehr, medical student. Winner of two excellence prizes on the development and the validation of the teaching module
Alexandrine J. Lamontagne (Research coordinator)

For more information, contact Alexandrine J. Lamontagne at 514-345-4931 extension 7243.

About this page
Updated on 10/14/2014
Created on 10/14/2014
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