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Empiric antibiotic prescribing for patients with community‐acquired pneumonia: where can we improve?
Author(s) -
Buising K. L,
Thursky K. A.,
Black J. F.,
MacGregor L.,
Street A. C.,
Kennedy M. P.,
Brown G. V.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2007.01455.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pneumonia , community acquired pneumonia , antibiotics , intensive care medicine , empiric treatment , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Background: Community acquired pneumonia is one of the most common infections for which antibiotics are prescribed in Australia. Methods: We audited empiric antibiotic prescribing for 392 adults with community‐acquired pneumonia. Results: Only 61.9% of patients received empiric antibiotic coverage for both typical and atypical pathogens. Of those who required intensive care unit management, 34.6% did not receive antibiotic cover for atypical pneumonia pathogens within the first 24 h. Approximately 21.9% of patients reporting antibiotic allergies were given antibiotics to which they had a documented allergy. Conclusion: Efforts to improve prescribing practices could be focused towards identifying patients with severe illness early and improving recognition of documented allergies.