Aiming for Asthma Improvement in Children
About us
Aiming for Asthma Improvement in Children (AAIC) is a NSW state-wide program funded by NSW Health and coordinated and delivered by Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick.
The program aims to support continuity and consistency of care for children with asthma, in collaboration with peak asthma consumer and health professional organisations, health professionals, education departments, childcare organisations, and families and carers.
The AAIC program is built on 4 pillars:
- Asthma Research
- Advocacy
- Innovative Asthma Educational Models
- Consultancy.
Contact
What we do
AAIC leads and supports evidence-based research and provides expert consultancy in paediatric asthma.
We develop and deliver asthma education and free resources for parents and carers, health professionals, school and childcare staff, and multicultural communities.
We provide:
- ACECQA-approved asthma management courses for children's services staff
- free asthma education sessions for parents and carers via Eventbrite
- a range of resources including asthma device, first aid videos, and factsheets for parents and carers.
Related service: Anaphylaxis courses for school and children's services professionals are provided by Anaphylaxis Education.
Our courses
Resources and other training
Parent and carer asthma resourses
Asthma eBook
Download our free Asthma and your child eBook from Apple Books.
This eBook is an easy and convenient way for parents to learn more about managing asthma. The eBook is a multimedia interactive digital resource and includes asthma management information, galleries, and instructional videos and scenarios.
The eBook has been developed by asthma clinicians from the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network and John Hunter Children's Hospital.
Factsheets
Children's services staff asthma resources
NSW Health Schools and Child Services Action Plan for Asthma Flare-Up
This is a NSW Health recommended form specifically designed to be used within schools, childcare, and Out of School Hours Care. The form, which provides asthma first aid instructions for the child, is to be completed by the child’s doctor or nurse practitioner and returned to the school/children’s service.
Download the Schools and Child Services Action Plan for Asthma Flare-Up.
School staff asthma resources
Asthma e-Book: A training resource for school staff
Download our free Asthma first-aid management in schools eBook from Apple Books.
The eBook is an easy and convenient way for staff to do their school asthma management training. On completion, staff can request a training certificate for their Professional Development portfolio.
The eBook is a multimedia interactive digital resource and includes asthma management information, picture galleries, instructional videos and scenarios, interactive quizzes, videos depicting children having a real life asthma flare-up.
Use it to upskill in emergency asthma first aid management and learn to recognise an acute asthma flare-up.
Asthma Australia
Asthma Australia is a consumer organisation providing a wide range of school education options, information and resources.
School staff asthma resources
The resources below contain useful checklists and records for managing asthma in the school setting, including asthma first aid information for school staff, asthma first aid resources, and parent/carer resources.
- Useful Checklists and Records
- National Asthma Council Australia "Kids' First Aid for Asthma" poster
- Schools and Child Services Action Plan for Asthma Flare-Up
- School Parent Asthma Information
- Asthma information for School staff
- Instructions for Asthma First Aid Kit
Journal of Asthma (Peer-reviewed publication)
The article "Role of technology in improving knowledge and confidence in asthma management in school staff" is available online with Taylor and Francis.
Get in touch
Email us at schn-sch-aaic@health.nsw.gov.au or contact our Paediatric Asthma Clinical Nurse Consultants on (02) 9382 1521.
Services and support agencies
Asthma research
Asthma Care from Home project
Asthma is the most common reason for children visiting emergency departments or being admitted to the hospital. However, most of these hospital visits are preventable if ongoing care and support are available in the community.
Unfortunately, the current asthma care for children in Australia is still inadequate, particularly after children are discharged from hospital. To improve the care for children with asthma following discharge from hospital, we have developed a model of care called Asthma Care From Home, which will help link a child’s asthma care between hospital, primary care provider/GP and school/childcare, and provide individualised home-based follow up services through the use of digital technology to ensure that children receive adequate asthma care after they are discharged from the hospital.
Our goal for this study is to test and assess the effectiveness of this virtually enabled model of care on asthma management for children aged 5-12 years with asthma across four large rural NSW local health districts (LHDs) including Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD, Northern NSW LHD, Southern NSW LHD, and Western NSW LHD
Funding partner: Transitional research grant - NSW Ministry of Health
For more information, email us at schn-sch-aaic@health.nsw.gov.au.
Our expertise
Established in 2004, AAIC is led by specialist paediatric asthma clinical nurse consultants affiliated with UNSW. All education and resources align with the Australian Asthma Handbook.
AAIC has trained more than 4,800 early childhood educators, school staff and health professionals across NSW. Evaluations of AAIC’s ACECQA-approved asthma management course show that 90% of participants agree the training meets their educational needs and is informative, relevant, and clear.
The team contributes to statewide and national asthma care through the development of NSW paediatric asthma pathways, review of national asthma guidelines, and implementation research, including current work. This includes Asthma Care from Home, a NSW Health–funded model of care delivering nurse-led virtual follow-up, education, and discharge support to children with asthma and their families in rural and regional NSW.