CFC to HFA Albuterol Inhalers

If you work in a community pharmacy lately-you've probably noticed the change from the CFC albuterol inhaler to the HFA inhalers-most likely to the "ProAir" or "Ventolin" HFA, or some others. Usually you just switch the patient over to the HFA inhaler, and none's the wiser-but are they really equivalent?


As Sarah Mallak discussed in MPSA, though there are a lot of similarities between the two options, there are some special consideration we as pharmacists/students need to think about when we dispense them to patients, particularly for the first time. Patients should be instructed to wash their HFA inhaler canister once a week in warm water to prevent clogging. Further information can be found on the article "Withdrawal of albuterol inhalers containing chlorofluorocarbons" in NEJM-I'd link it but I'm not able due to restrictions. A very interesting read!!!