Research presented at the 2014 AAP National Conference and Exhibition show children admitted to the ICU with community-acquired pneumonia were more likely to have a complete blood count and blood culture taken, suggesting that physicians in the ICU have better adherence to guidelines.
Researchers reviewed records for children aged 3 months to 18 years who were hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) at 4 tertiary children’s hospitals from 2011 through 2012. Of the 1,142 patients who met study criteria, 763 were confirmed to have pneumonia at admission or discharge and were included in the study cohort.
Overall, 78% of study participants (559 of 763) had a complete blood count obtained. Ninety-two of the 109 children who required ICU-level care had complete blood counts obtained (84.4%).
Approximately 60.6% of all study participants (462 of 763) had blood cultures drawn, compared with 77.1% of children in the ICU (84 of 109; P=0.0.001).
Regarding chest x-rays, 96.1% of all patients had an x-ray compared with 99.1% of all ICU patients (P=0.22).
The study findings indicate there is not ideal compliance to the IDSA guidelines and that the ICU tended to have better adherence to those guidelines, according to study author Jordan Sack.
