Exhale Guide for People With Asthma, Their Families, and Their Caregivers
- Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Asthma Control Program
- 15 minutes

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood and a leading cause of pediatric ED visits, hospitalizations, and missed school days in the United States. It affects nearly 6% of U.S. children and accounts for more than 790,000 ED visits annually (Aguilar et al., 2024). Despite the availability of effective treatments, delays in recognition, inconsistent management, and delayed intervention continue to contribute to preventable morbidity.
PEAK Asthma supports ED and EMS clinicians in delivering evidence-based pediatric asthma care through practical guidance, clinical algorithms, and educational resources focused on early recognition, timely intervention, standardized management, and family-centered care.
Last updated: June 4, 2026
This guide provides practical information for people with asthma, their families, and caregivers on using EXHALE strategies to improve asthma control and management.
Family-centered educational resource designed to help caregivers recognize asthma flare-ups, understand emergency department care and treatments, use medications correctly, follow an asthma action plan, identify warning signs, avoid triggers, and support safe asthma management at home.
Evidence-based clinical guidance for the assessment and management of pediatric asthma exacerbations, emphasizing early severity recognition, standardized reassessment, prompt treatment, escalation of care, effective medication delivery, and timely corticosteroid administration.
Common asthma myths can lead to delayed recognition and inconsistent care. Effective pediatric asthma management requires assessing the full clinical picture using standardized tools, initiating early treatments, employing proper medication delivery techniques, and conducting ongoing reassessment to guide safe care and disposition.
This Children’s National Hospital webpage provides family-centered asthma education resources, including asthma action plans, trigger management information, inhaler and spacer instructions, medication guidance, home care tips, videos, and tools to support ongoing asthma management at home and school.
This American Lung Association webpage provides a back-to-school checklist for families of children with asthma, including guidance on asthma action plans, medication access, communication with schools, vaccinations, trigger management, and creating a safe school environment to support asthma control.
This American Lung Association webpage provides resources and practical guidance for parents and caregivers of children with asthma, including asthma education, school support tools, asthma action plans, trigger management, and programs that promote self-management and healthy living.
Provides individualized instructions to help patients and families recognize worsening asthma symptoms, manage medications, and know when to seek medical care.
Simulation focusing on the recognition and management of pediatric status asthmaticus, emphasizing crisis resource management, teamwork, prioritization of treatment and escalation strategies, and determination of appropriate patient disposition.
Collection of validated pediatric asthma scoring tools and prediction resources, including PAS, PASS, PRAM, MPIS, and PARS, to support standardized assessment, treatment, reassessment, and risk stratification.
This video demonstrates the proper use of an MDI with spacer and mask, including positioning and breathing technique for effective medication delivery.
Outlines evidence-based approaches for the evaluation and treatment of children with asthma in the emergency department (ED).