[Study of the diversity in treatment of community-acquired pneumonia]

There are a great number of protocols or recommendations focused on clinical-radiological criteria for the antibiotic treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). This report assesses the diversity found in the treatment of CAP in the Internal Medicine and Pneumology Services of our hospital. Seventy-one patients referred from the Emergency Department were treated in both services, and clinical, microbiological and therapeutic variables were collected. It was shown that there are significant differences between the therapeutic guidelines used in each service (antibiotics chosen, their length and form of administration) which could not be explained by the patients' clinical profile. Greater homogeneity in the guidelines was found only for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In relation to the adherence to recommendations of scientific societies, we found that 7% of the guidelines were not recommended; there was an average of 2.5 changes (in the antibiotic, dose or administration form) per patient; and a larger period of intravenous administration (7.38 days) than recommended for sequential therapy