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To evaluate the effect of time to antibiotic initiation on outcomes in critically ill children with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), investigators reviewed records for 45 patients (median age, 17 months) who required acute (within 48 hours of presentation) mechanical ventilation for CAP at a pediatric emergency department (ED) in Ohio between 2004 and 2006. Patients were included only if their bacterial isolates were susceptible to an administered antibiotic (defined as a “correct” antibiotic).
Median time from presentation to initiation of correct antibiotics was 10.3 hours; 71% of patients had bacteria that were susceptible to the initial empirically chosen antibiotics. Median duration of mechanical ventilation was 3.3 days, and median …