Asthma Spacer - Application

Application

After removing the MDI’s cap, the MDI is inserted into the back-piece. The front part of the chamber is closed off by either a facemask that covers both the patient’s mouth and nose, or simply a mouthpiece that goes in the patient’s mouth. To administer the medication, the patient brings the facemask to the face (or the mouth-piece to the mouth) and depresses the metered-dose inhaler once, resulting in the release of one dose of medication. The medication from the MDI is then briefly suspended in the spacer’s chamber while the patient inhales the aerosolized medication by breathing in and out deeply at a slow rate. Some spacers are equipped with a whistle, which sounds as a warning when the patient is inhaling too quickly.

The facemask on the spacer has valves which insure that the medication suspended in the chamber is inhaled by the patient, and that the exhaled breath exits the device through the exhalation valve mounted in the mask. When using a spacer without a facemask, the patient must inhale through their mouth and exhale through their nose. Spacers with facemasks are used in toddlers and young children because that population is unable to coordinate inhaling through the mouth and exhaling through the nose. However, the facemasks are available in small, medium, and large sizes, and spacers with facemasks may also be used in the adult and elderly population.