[Time to first antibiotic dose in community-acquired pneumonia diagnosed in an emergency department].
BACKGROUND
Early antibiotic administration to patients diagnosed of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been associated with a lower mortality. In the USA, its administration within four hours has been implanted as a quality standard. The objective of this work was to analyze, in a Spanish emergency department, the performance with patients with CAP, focusing on the administration of the first dose of antibiotic.


METHODS
Clinics, welfare and organizational aspects have been analysed on 93 patients diagnosed of CAP in an emergency department in order to identify their influence on antibiotic administration within 4 hours.


RESULTS
46.2% of patients received antibiotics within 4 hours. The fact that patients were assisted in the higher complexity level showed a positive association with the antibiotic administration within 4 hours. On the contrary, presence of more than 10 patients waiting to be admitted showed a negative association.


CONCLUSIONS
Early antibiotic administration in the CAP is possible. On order to guarantee a higher number of patients taking antibiotics within 4 hours we have to improve quality of care in both the emergency department (to guarantee correct classification according to the level of complexity) and in the hospital (management of beds to avoid delay in the admission of the patients).
Romero Pizarro
Y
Y
Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro, Madrid, Spain. yromero.hpth@salud.madrid.org
Bascuñana Morejón de Girón
J
J
Vicuña Andrés
I
I
Maínez Saiz
C
C
Criado Dabrowska
C
C
Moya Mir
M S
MS
D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents