Aim The aim of this study was to describe inhaler use in primary health care patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to categorize these patients into those making errors related to devices, those making errors related to inhalation technique and those making errors related to both. Design Observational study. Methods COPD nurses used a checklist to assess the use of inhalers by patients with spirometry‐verified COPD (N = 183) from primary healthcare centres. The STROBE checklist has been used. Results The mean age of the patients was 71 (SD 9) years. Almost half of them (45%) made at least one error; of these, 50% made errors related to devices, 31% made errors related to inhalation technique and 19% made errors related both to devices and to inhalation technique.