Predictors of 30-day readmission following hospitalisation with community-acquired pneumonia.

Background: There is a paucity of UK data to aid healthcare professionals in predicting which patients hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are at greatest risk of 30-day readmission and to determine which readmissions may occur soonest.

Methods: An analysis of CAP cases admitted to nine UK hospitals participating in the Advancing Quality Pneumonia Programme.

Results: An analysis was performed of 12 157 subjects hospitalised with CAP in the Advancing Quality Programme Database.

Advancing quality in sepsis management: a large-scale programme for improving sepsis recognition and management in the North West region of England.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a collaborative programme for the early recognition and management of patients admitted with sepsis in the northwest of England.

Setting: 14 hospitals in the northwest of England.

Intervention: A quality improvement programme (Advancing Quality (AQ) Sepsis) that promoted a sepsis care bundle including time-based recording of early warning scores, documenting systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria and suspected source of infection, taking of blood cultures, measuring serum lactate levels, administration of intravenous antibiotics, administration of oxygen, fluid resuscitation, measurement of fluid balance and senior review.

The association between pre-hospital antibiotic therapy and subsequent in-hospital mortality in adults presenting with community-acquired pneumonia: an observational study.

Background: The majority of patients with community acquired-pneumonia (CAP) are treated in primary care and the mortality in this group is very low. However, a small but significant proportion of patients who begin treatment in the community subsequently require admission due to symptomatic deterioration. This study compared patients who received community antibiotics prior to admission to those who had not, and looked for associations with clinical outcomes.