Guidelines for the probabilistic treatment of community-acquired pneumonia: Compared experience between internal medicine and emergency departments in the University Hospital of Besancon, France

Introduction. - The objective of this study was to assess the application of local and national recommendations in the management of community-acquired pneumonia in an internal medicine department with an antibiotic referent physician and in an emergency department. Patients and methods. - This was a retrospective single-center study including patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia in the internal medicine department of the University Hospital of Besancon after an initial admission in the emergency department. Results. - One hundred patients (58 women and 42 men) were included. The mean age was 79 +/- 11 years. The prescriptions done in the emergency department were in accordance with local recommendations or Societe de pathologie infectieuse de langue francaise (SPILF) recommendations in 62% of cases. The prescriptions followed the recommendations in 94% of cases in internal medicine department (P<0.05). The lack of initial antibiotic treatment had no influence on morbidity and mortality. Conclusion. The guidelines for infectious diseases treatment were significantly more often applied in a department where a referent physician was designated for this. (C) 2013 Societe nationale francaise de medecine interne (SNFMI). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.