Asthma Research Unit
The Asthma Research Unit (ARU) was opened as part of the KGH Asthma Program within the Division of Respirology, Department of Medicine at Queen’s University. The ARU is directed by Dr. M. Diane Lougheed, Professor of Medicine Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, and Community Health and Epidemiology and Adjunct Scientist, ICES-Queen’s. The research team includes research associates, graduate students and a nurse practitioner. The team collaborates with many researchers at other centres as part of research networks and team grants

Research areas include:

• Asthma symptom perception and lung mechanics
• Cough variant asthma
• Asthma epidemiology (practice patterns and outcomes research)
• Asthma guidelines implementation and knowledge translation (e.g. care maps, electronic care tools and indicators for electronic medical records)
• Asthma management (clinical trials and asthma education)

Kingston General Hospital (KGH) Asthma Program
The KGH Asthma program is a comprehensive disease management program which amalgamates diagnostics, therapeutics, education and research. The program encompasses ambulatory, emergency and inpatient clinical care.
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Ambulatory services include:

• Multi-disciplinary Asthma Clinics, staffed by an asthma specialist (respirologist) and a Nurse Practitioner/Certified Asthma Educator
• A Nurse Practitioner Asthma Clinic
• An Asthma Education Centre (AEC) staffed by nationally certified adult and pediatric asthma nurse educators
• A Severe Asthma Clinic staffed by a respirologist specializing in asthma care
• An outreach Primary Care Asthma Program (PCAP), in which a Certified Respiratory Educator delivers asthma education to 6 primary care locations in Kingston and area
• Pulmonary function and skin testing service

Hospital-based services include:

• Collaborative Care Plan for the care of adult asthma patients in the Emergency Department and Inpatient settings
• A spirometry service for asthma patients in the Emergency Department
• Respirology (asthma specialist) consultation for adult asthma inpatients
• Asthma nurse educator consultation for adults, children and parents of pediatric asthma inpatients

The KGH Asthma Program and the outreach PCAP are supported by an electronic Asthma Management Outcomes Monitoring System (AMOMS) which is integrated into the KGH patient care system.

Additional asthma tools such as a validated electronic version of Juniper’s adult mini Asthma Quality of life Questionnaire (AQLQ), mini Pediatric Caregivers AQLQ and a Work-related Asthma Screening Questionnaire are accessible for clinical and research use via this AsthmaLife® portal which is currently housed on a dedicated research server at KGH.



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