European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Multicenter Study
Effect of diagnosis level of certainty on adherence to antibiotics' guidelines in ED patients with pneumonia: a post-hoc analysis of an interventional trial.
Clinical diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is difficult to establish with certainty. Adherence to antibiotic guidelines independently affects the prognosis of CAP patients. ⋯ Antibiotic guidelines' adherence was poor and positively related to CAP diagnosis level of certainty. The results suggest that improvements in CAP diagnosis may increase adherence to antibiotic guidelines. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01574066).