Diagnosis and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia

Am Fam Physician. 2006 Feb 1;73(3):442-50.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / economics
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
  • Community-Acquired Infections / diagnosis
  • Community-Acquired Infections / drug therapy
  • Community-Acquired Infections / epidemiology
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial
  • Hematologic Tests
  • Humans
  • Lung / diagnostic imaging
  • Physical Examination
  • Pneumonia / diagnosis*
  • Pneumonia / drug therapy*
  • Pneumonia / epidemiology
  • Radiography
  • United States / epidemiology

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents