PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Boyd, R AU - Stuart, P TI - Pressurised metered dose inhalers with spacers versus nebulisers for β-agonist delivery in acute asthma in children in the emergency department AID - 10.1136/emj.2003.011296 DP - 2005 Sep 01 TA - Emergency Medicine Journal PG - 641--642 VI - 22 IP - 9 4099 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/22/9/641.short 4100 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/22/9/641.full SO - Emerg Med J2005 Sep 01; 22 AB - Objectives: Wet nebulisers are widely used for β-2 agonist delivery in Australasian emergency departments (ED). An increasing body of work suggests that pressurised metered dose inhalers with spacers (pMDI-S) are as effective. This study aims to investigate the effect on admission rates, total time in the ED, and total time in hospital after initiation of routine pMDI-S treatment for mild to moderate asthma in children presenting to the ED. Methods: Children with a discharge diagnosis of asthma were identified over sequential 3 month time periods. In the first period, wet nebuliser treatment was routine and in the subsequent trial period pMDI-S treatment was instituted as routine. Admissions rates, total time in hospital, and total time in the ED were recorded for each group. Results: Admission rates fell significantly from 31% to 20.6% after routine use of pMDI-S treatment. There was a non-significant trend to an increase in total ED and total hospital times. Conclusion: Introduction of routine pMDI-S treatment in the paediatric ED results in a significant drop in admission rates but no significant change in total hospital times or total ED times.