An audit of the recording of smoking status of the parents of asthmatic children

Abstract

Title:

An audit of the recording of smoking status of the parents of asthmatic children.

Method:

Medical audit during January 2000, to determine level of recording of smoking status.

Setting:

Six partner, computerised, teaching general practice in South Bristol, where asthma care is shared by an asthma nurse and the doctors.

Results:

164 children out of the total practice population of 9250 met the criteria for inclusion in this audit. A smoking history was recorded in the medical records in 11 of the 29 children seen by the nurse and 37 of the 135 who saw a doctor.

Conclusions:

The audit identified problems and raised awareness of the need to record parental smoking status. The 34% rate of recording of parental smoking status in the medical histories of asthmatic children was well below that expected. The asthma nurse was more efficient at recording smoking status, but she only saw 17.7% of the children. The audit revealed shortcomings in the recording systems used, which means that the rate of recording found here can only be used as an estimate.