Table 3. Characteristics of participating hospitals (N = 129).

Variable	Reported	%	Median	Q1–Q3	Min.– Max.
Catchment population (hab)	129		224076	136036–340458	44000–787000
Total beds per hospital	129		373	192–599	61–1352
Patients admitted by hospital in 2007	129		14573	7246–21165	600–90000
COPD patients admitted per hospital in 2007	129		377	199–591	56–3500
Total staff physicians within the hospital	129		293	151–519	25–1417
Internal Medicine Staff members	129		12	8.00–18	5–50
Pulmonary Medicine Staff members	109		8	5.00–12	1–30
Hospital case-mix index 2007	129		1.3	1.0–1.6	0.7–2.2
Hospitals with residents in training	129	79
University Hospital	129	50
Pulmonology Unit	129	84
Yes, with hospital ward		61
Yes, without hospital ward		23
No		16
Lung function laboratory available	129	83
Availability of non-invasive ventilation	129	95
Intensive care/High Dependency Unit	129	90
Admissions ward	129	87
Pulmonary physicians on duty on site	79	61
Written protocol for COPD	129	44
Formal pulmonary rehabilitation programme	129	28
Availability for transferring COPD cases to another hospitals	129	43
Early discharge scheme/hospital at home	129	20
Triage by physicians	129	40
Access to electronic/digital information	129	78
Number of interim ECOPD cases recruited	129		80	41–136	8–365
Number of definite ECOPD cases recruited	129		37	25–60	8–134

Q1–Q3: interquartile range.