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1: Am Fam Physician. 2006 Feb 1;73(3):442-50.Links
Comment in:
Am Fam Physician. 2006 Nov 1;74(9):1479.
Am Fam Physician. 2006 Sep 15;74(6):921.

Diagnosis and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia.

Lutfiyya MN, Henley E, Chang LF, Reyburn SW.

Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, Rockford, Illinois 61107, USA. lutfiyya@uic.edu

Patients with community-acquired pneumonia often present with cough, fever, chills, fatigue, dyspnea, rigors, and pleuritic chest pain. When a patient presents with suspected community-acquired pneumonia, the physician should first assess the need for hospitalization using a mortality prediction tool, such as the Pneumonia Severity Index, combined with clinical judgment. Consensus guidelines from several organizations recommend empiric therapy with macrolides, fluoroquinolones, or doxycycline. Patients who are hospitalized should be switched from parenteral antibiotics to oral antibiotics after their symptoms improve, they are afebrile, and they are able to tolerate oral medications. Clinical pathways are important tools to improve care and maximize cost-effectiveness in hospitalized patients.

PMID: 16477891 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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