TABLE 3.

Respiratory medication used during the study period

Medications	Pre-admission (n=310)		First 24 h of admission (n=503)		At discharge (n=310)
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Beta-agonist bronchodilators
Short-acting	164	53	476	95	195	63
Long-acting	18	6	11	2	9	3
Anticholinergic bronchodilators	168	54	447	89	175	57
Inhaled corticosteroids	139	45	174	35	120	39
Parenteral corticosteroids	–	81	16	–
Oral corticosteroids	64	21	214	43	154	50
Antibiotics	71	23	329	66	134	37
Combination inhalers	39	13	6	1	24	8

Note: The percentage of medication used in the preadmission and discharge columns was based on the number of patients (n=310), while to follow the use of medication in patients with several readmissions during the study period, the percentage of medication use in the ‘first 24 hours of admission’ was based on the total number of admissions (n=503)