The Impact of Adherence to Pediatric Community-Acquired Pneumonia Guidelines on Clinical Outcomes

摘要

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) accounts for more than 150 000 hospitalizations annually in the United States, and it is one of the most common inpa-tient diagnoses. In children, treatment for CAP is typically presumptive based on epidemiologic data specifying the most common etiologies for each age group. Guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America on management of CAP in children recommend initial empiric therapy of ampicillin or penicillin G for a child who is hospitalized. In addition, the guidelines strongly recommend collection of blood cultures (BCs) in any children requiring hospitalization for presumed moderate to severe bacterial CAP. The primary objective of our study was to evaluate how closely we adhere to guidelines on empiric therapy choices for management of pediatric CAP, including how often BCs were obtained and subsequently influenced management. Our secondary objective was to assess whether this management correlated with clinical outcomes.