Breathing Easier: Discharging Hospitalized Asthma Patients on q3h Saba Treatments

Purpose/Objectives: In 2004, almost 200,000 children were hospitalized due to asthma in the United States, costing nearly $280 million.1-2 Rising health care costs have led to initiatives to improve discharge timeliness without compromising patient safety or increasing readmission rates. Typically, hospitalized asthma patients are considered medically ready for discharge when their short acting beta agonist (SABA) treatments are spaced to every four hours (Q4H) or longer. Though this was not specified in the 2007 NHLBI ASTHMA guidelines, it is common practice according …