Systemic corticosteroids (oral or intravenous corticosteroids) are recommended as short term or rescue medications to relieve bronchoconstriction rapidly, making them useful in gaining quick initial control of asthma and in treatment of moderate to severe asthma exacerbations.

• For the purpose of the CAC measures, inpatient hospitalization includes the time of arrival to the emergency department (ED) or observation area until discharge from the inpatient setting.
• For systemic corticosteroids (oral or intravenous) administered in the Emergency Department/observation area which was given prior to the inpatient admission, select “Yes.”
• “Systemic Corticosteroid Not Specified (NOS)” can be used to answer “Yes” to this question in the following situations:
  • For new systemic corticosteroids that are not yet listed in Table 6.3
  • When there is documentation that a systemic corticosteroid was administered but unable to identify the name. It must be apparent that the medication is a systemic corticosteroid.
    Example:
    -On 2-12-08, the ED record contains the documentation, “Systemic corticosteroid started name illegible, 100 mg, IV, 0200-JM”. In the reliever grid, “Systemic corticosteroid NOS” would be entered for the name, IV for the route, 0200 for the time and 2-12-08 for the date. (If “Systemic corticosteroid started” had not been documented in this example, the medication could not be abstracted as Systemic Corticosteroid Administered.

• Emergency department record
• Nursing notes
• Nursing flow sheet
• Medication administration record (MAR)