title: Child and parent satisfaction with the use of spacer devices in acute asthma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate child and parent satisfaction with the use of spacers in acute asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  All parents of children presenting to the emergency department of Sydney Children's Hospital over a 3-month period with mild to moderately severe acute asthma who were treated with bronchodilators by spacer device were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire. Children aged 8 years and older completed a separate questionnaire independently.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and eleven of 158 parents (70%) responded. The majority (84%) found it 'easy' or 'very easy' to use the spacer and 85% reported that they intended to use the spacer at home. Of those parents who had previously used a nebulizer (n = 73), 84% said that the spacer was easier to use, 77% said that the spacer was better tolerated by their child and 84% said that overall they preferred the spacer. Seventeen of 31 children aged 8-14 years treated with a spacer (55%) responded to the satisfaction survey. All respondents found it 'easy' or 'OK' to use the spacer and the majority (82%) 'liked it' or thought 'it was OK'. The majority of children (82%) said that they preferred using spacers because it was quicker (29%) or easier to use (53%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of spacer devices in mild to moderately severe acute asthma is highly acceptable for children and parents; the majority prefer this mode of drug delivery to nebulization.
authors.affiliation: Children's Emergency Department, Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Cotterell
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gazarian
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: O'Meara
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Wales
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D036503:Inhalation Spacers; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales; D010290:Parents; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric