This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (2)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Three original articles and 1 editorial on the length of hospital stay (LOS) of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) were published in the November 8 and 22, 1999, issues of the ARCHIVES.^1-4 Ramirez et al¹ found that an early switch in therapy from intravenous to oral antibiotics was associated with an early hospital discharge in 44% of 200 consecutive patients, corresponding to 66% of the patients who underwent the switch in therapy. The authors found that the mean pneumonia-related LOS in 88 patients (3.4 days) was significantly shorter than for 45 patients hospitalized for treatment of comorbid conditions, diagnostic workup, or social need (LOS, 7.6 days). The authors calculated that more than $395 million could be saved with an early switch in therapy, but they did not identify the groups of patients for whom the savings might be higher, nor did they evaluate the long-term rates of mortality and rehospitalization.

. . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLES

The Best Treatment for Pneumonia: New Clues, but No Definitive Answers
Scott F. Dowell
Arch Intern Med. 1999;159(21):2511-2512.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Associations Between Initial Antimicrobial Therapy and Medical Outcomes for Hospitalized Elderly Patients With Pneumonia
Patrick P. Gleason, Thomas P. Meehan, Jonathan M. Fine, Deron H. Galusha, and Michael J. Fine
Arch Intern Med. 1999;159(21):2562-2572.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Effect of Macrolides as Part of Initial Empiric Therapy on Length of Stay in Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia
James E. Stahl, Michael Barza, Jeffrey DesJardin, Rhonda Martin, and Mark H. Eckman
Arch Intern Med. 1999;159(21):2576-2580.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Early Switch From Intravenous to Oral Antibiotics and Early Hospital Discharge: A Prospective Observational Study of 200 Consecutive Patients With Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Julio A. Ramirez, Sergio Vargas, Gilbert W. Ritter, Michael E. Brier, Allie Wright, Scott Smith, David Newman, John Burke, Mian Mushtaq, and Anna Huang
Arch Intern Med. 1999;159(20):2449-2454.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Prognosis After Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Elderly: A Population-Based 12-Year Follow-up Study
Irma Koivula, Marja Stén, and Pirjo Helena Mäkelä
Arch Intern Med. 1999;159(14):1550-1555.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Hospital Discharge Decision for Patients With Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Results From the Pneumonia Patient Outcomes Research Team Cohort Study
Michael J. Fine, Anne R. Medsger, Roslyn A. Stone, Thomas J. Marrie, Christopher M. Coley, Daniel E. Singer, Haysam Akkad, Linda J. Hough, Wei Lang, Edmund M. Ricci, Donna M. Polenik, and Wishwa N. Kapoor
Arch Intern Med. 1997;157(1):47-56.
ABSTRACT  

Early Switch From Intravenous to Oral Cephalosporins in the Treatment of Hospitalized Patients With Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Julio A. Ramirez, Latha Srinath, Sunket Ahkee, Anna Huang, and Martin J. Raff
Arch Intern Med. 1995;155(12):1273-1276.
ABSTRACT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Determinants of hospital costs in community-acquired pneumonia
Reyes et al.
Eur Respir J 2008;31:1061-1067.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Duration of length of stay in pneumonia: influence of clinical factors and hospital type
Menendez et al.
Eur Respir J 2003;22:643-648.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT