Loading...
Reducing length of stay (LOS) for patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) could reduce costs and improve patient safety. Incorporation of clinical guidelines into standardized order sets (SOSs) has been shown to improve outcomes in CAP but not necessarily to shorten LOS. Now, investigators have examined whether adding intensive clinical case management (ICCM; daily reminders from case managers to adhere to important processes) could reduce LOS while maintaining quality of care in the treatment of CAP.
Patients admitted to a Long Island, New York, hospital with CAP between November 2002 and February 2005 were studied in three sequential blocks. Block 1 patients received conventional care, without use of SOS or ICCM; block 2 patients,…