Observations on the management of childhood acute asthma in a large hospital.

To study the documentation of assessment, the treatment and the follow-up arrangements for children admitted to hospital with acute asthma. A retrospective audit of case notes. Tertiary level teaching hospital. A comparison with the asthma management plan issued by the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand. We found poor documentation of assessment of asthma severity, low referral rates for asthma education, and inappropriate use of chest radiography. Bronchodilator therapy did not follow published guidelines. Good follow-up arrangements were achieved. The proportion of children with documentation of the assessment of acute asthma was unacceptably low.