High variability among Emergency Departments in 3rd-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones use for community-acquired pneumonia.

Objective: Fluoroquinolones and 3rd-generation cephalosporins that are prescribed for pneumonia may be avoided and replaced by a penicillin in some cases. We aimed to determine if the proportion of patients treated for pneumonia with a cephalosporin, a fluoroquinolone or both varies among Emergency Departments (EDs), and to estimate the proportion of avoidable prescriptions.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients treated for pneumonia in eight French EDs, and subsequently hospitalized in non-ICU wards.