Improving Inpatient Care of Community-Acquired Pneumonia

In a multicenter collaborative sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 53 hospitals with ≥20 annual admissions for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) undertook a 1-year intervention to increase the use of narrow-spectrum antibiotics (ampicillin, amoxicillin, penicillin), decrease macrolide use, and decrease the codiagnosis of asthma exacerbation and pneumonia in children admitted with a CAP diagnosis.

Participants at each hospital, comprising multidisciplinary teams of at least three people, used a package of tools that was intended to standardize management using clinical pathways, order sets, communication tools, and educational curriculum. Of the 48 hospitals that completed the project, 40% were community hospitals and located in…