CHEST stands for A Collaboration with Community Health Centers to Implement SMART for Asthma. The CHEST Study is a federally-funded project testing the effectiveness and sustainability of a strategy that makes it easier for your doctor or nurse to prescribe the best asthma treatment. CHEST works with many community health centers in St. Louis, Missouri. CHEST will evaluate long-term impacts and success of these efforts, from 2024-2028. We will communicate our findings to doctors and nurses, as well as the St. Louis community at large.
Mission
CHEST aims to evaluate the success of strategies that make it easier for doctors and nurses to provide the best treatment plans for asthma. We have redesigned Asthma Actions Plans and created additional information materials like how-to videos. We are also training doctors and nurses.
We want to learn if what we’re doing helps more asthma patients get the best inhalers and improves their asthma control.
Vision
We want to make St. Louis a leader in asthma care and to establish the SMART implementation bundle as a standard practice that encourages the utilization of guideline-recommended SMART therapy. We hope our community can be an example for other places on what they can do to improve asthma care.
Scientific aims of CHEST
- Evaluate if our work helps more patients with moderate-to-severe asthma get guideline-recommended SMART therapy.
- Understand if our work improves patient’s asthma control.
- Understand how doctors, nurses, and other community health center providers use our resources.
Who?
CHEST is a team of doctors, nurses, public health experts, and designers working together to make it easier for others to prescribe the best asthma medications. We are partnering with community health centers in St. Louis.
Where?
The study is conducted by the WashU Medicine staff in partnership with community health centers throughout St. Louis, Missouri.
What?
CHEST is funded by the federal government. It is a hybrid effectiveness-implementation randomized trial. This is the “official” way to say we are trying to see if our work makes healthcare practitioners more likely to prescribe SMART therapy, and ultimately improves asthma control for patients.
When?
The study takes place from 2024-2028.
Why?
Many people in St. Louis suffer from asthma, and too many people are not receiving guideline-recommended SMART therapy. We want to help patients in St. Louis receive the best asthma treatment!