• Yuichiro Shindo, Shinji Sato, Eiichi Maruyama, Takamasa Ohashi, Masahiro Ogawa, Kazuyoshi Imaizumi, and Yoshinori Hasegawa.
• Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine. yshindo@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
• Intern. Med. 2008 Jan 1;47(21):1865-74.

ObjectiveThe effect of clinical pathway (CP) care and early switch from intravenous to oral antibiotics therapy on community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been well documented. However, limited studies have evaluated the effects of CP on reducing time taken for attaining clinical stability and duration of antibiotics prescriptions. This study was aimed to investigate the use of a CP and its implication for CAP in a community hospital.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of CAP patients hospitalized between November 2005 and January 2007. The patients were divided into two groups, those for whom CP was adopted and those for whom CP was not adopted on admission. We compared the outcomes of three risk classes assessed using the severity scoring system (A-DROP). CP included switching from an intravenous beta-lactam plus a macrolide to an oral respiratory fluoroquinolone, when the patients exhibited risk factors for drug-resistant pneumococci.ResultsOne hundred thirty-five patients were evaluated, and sixty received CP care. Patients in the CP group had a lower A-DROP score. Although clinical cure proportions were similar, the CP group in the mild and moderate classes (A-DROP score, ConclusionImplementation of this CP would lead to effective care, may serve to reduce time for attaining clinical stability and reduce the use of unnecessary antibiotics without worsening clinical outcomes in mild and moderate CAP.

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