Wed 1 Aug 2007
Most docs have recognized the ridiculous science behind the Quality rules requiring antibiotics in Community Aquired Pneumonia within 4 hours of arrival at the hospital. Finally, there is a study from our home NJ Medical School in Newark, NJ that reveals that giving antibiotics in the first 24 hours has little effect on survival. The study found that despite increasing the number of patients that received the antibiotic in 4 hours over 3 years there was no change in survival.
While it intuitively makes sense that we should give antibiotics in a timely manner for pneumonia, the science behind the quality of measuring it is flawed and should no longer be measured.