Pneumonia Update for Emergency Clinicians

Purpose of review: Many new concepts in diagnosis, management, and risk stratification of patients with pneumonia have been described recently. The COVID pandemic made importance of viruses as dangerous pathogens of pneumonia quite clear while several non-invasive measures for patients with respiratory failure gained a more wide-spread usage.

Recent findings: Studies continue to examine feasibility of bedside ultrasound as a tool in accurate diagnosis of pneumonia in the emergency department, and several new antibiotics have been approved for treatment while others are in late-stage clinical trials. Additionally, the Infectious Diseases Society, American Thoracic Society, and their European counterparts published updated guidelines in recent years. For differences important to emergency medicine clinicians and new emphasis as compared to the prior guidelines, please see Table 1. Several new antibiotics have been approved recently but remain relatively unknown to emergency clinicians as their use is frequently restricted to infectious disease specialists. [Table: see text].

Summary: As the emergency physicians gain new tools to rapidly diagnose, treat, and appropriately disposition pneumonia cases that appear to become more complex as people unfortunately accumulate more comorbidities, we hope to offer better care and improve outcomes for our patients while allowing staff to enjoy coming to work.