To our knowledge, few if any studies have assessed patients with an intermediary (up to 24h) time of stay, namely a short stay ward attached to an emergency department. Thus, we have endeavoured to determine if repeated doses of nebulized HS are superior to nebulized normal saline (NS) during the first 24 hour of treatment, when considered: rate of admission, time until discharge, time until attain discharge criteria, and rate of readmission after discharge.