Processes of Care, Illness Severity, and Outcomes in the Management of Community-Acquired Pneumonia at Academic Hospitals

Abstract

Achieving process-of-care markers was not associated with improved outcomes, but was related to the severity of pneumonia as assessed on admission. Our results highlight the difficulty in demonstrating a link between process-of-care markers and outcomes in observational studies of CAP. Randomized studies are needed to objectively evaluate the impact of process-of-care markers on CAP outcomes.

Blood Culture in Evaluation of Pediatric Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…47 The American Thoracic Society has recommended this test since the 1990s as part of the initial evaluation of patients with CAP. 48 This recommendation was based on the belief that BC results facilitate more effective antimicrobial treatment because bacteremia refl ects more severe disease and a higher risk of mortality.…”

Hospital quality measurement— Perplexing for professionals, let alone for patients

“…The evidence linking the pneumonia measures, for instance, to significant outcomes such as lower mortality or (rarely studied) better functional outcomes is extremely limited or nonexistent. 3,4 At the other end of the continuum are sweeping metrics such as risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality, which may be important and yet has 2 significant limitations. First, mortality rates in acute care are generally so low that this is not a useful outcome of interest for most clinical conditions.…”

Management of community-acquired pneumonia in persons with spinal cord injury

“…Mean LOS for the general North American patient population hospitalized with CAP is 5.8-9.8 days. 20,21 Another study examined LOS in CAP and found that in a somewhat similar population (veterans with multiple comorbid illnesses) the average LOS ranged from 4.6 to 9.7 days. 22 The prolonged LOS is noteworthy as studies have shown that LOS can at least be partially reduced with little impact on outcomes.…”