Pneumonia Patients Whose Initial Emergency Room Blood Culture Was Performed Prior to the Administration of the First Hospital Dose of Antibiotics

What Does This Measure?

The percentage of eligible pneumonia patients who had a blood culture taken prior to receiving antibiotics.

Why Is This Important?

If pneumonia is caused by bacteria, hospitals will usually treat the infection with antibiotics. Different antibiotics are more effective at treating different bacteria.

Hospitals use blood culture tests to determine the most effective antibiotic to treat a particular strain of pneumonia.

What Are We Doing to Improve Our Performance?

Duke has enacted several initiatives to improve our performance. These include:

• Evidence-based medicine
• Standardized order sets
• Patient rounding
  
• Computerized physician order entry (CPOE)
• Electronic medical records (EMR)
• Six Sigma and DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control process) methodologies
• Emergency Department nursing and physician education
• Pneumonia-specific discharge instructions and patient education information
• Patient safety and clinical quality committees
• Patient advocacy and support groups

More Information

• See more pneumonia quality measures
• See all performance measures
• Compare Duke to other North Carolina hospitals at NC Hospital Quality Report
• Compare Duke to regional and national hospitals at Hospital Quality Alliance's Hospital Compare