MDI inhalers: do nursing home support staff have correct technique?

Many elderly patients in nursing homes in the United States use metered-dose inhaler (MDI) medications for a variety of lung diseases. We wondered how much the nursing support staff knew about correct MDI inhaler technique. Thirty-eight nursing home support staff were asked to demonstrate correct use of a placebo MDI inhaler on themselves. The staff completed an average of 6.9 steps out of 8 correctly. The most common error demonstrated was the staff did not hold their breath for 10 seconds at full inspiration after inhaling the medication. The results suggest that the support staff have incorrect MDI inhaler technique.