Pneumonia Quality Ratings
| Data listed is from April 2008 - March 2009. | Barton | State Average | U.S. Average |
| Pneumonia vaccine given | 100% | 90% | 83% |
| Screening and vaccinating to prevent pneumonia is important because of the increasing resistance of pneumonia bacteria to antibiotics. Vaccination can be up to 60 percent effective in preventing bacterial infection. | |||
| Blood culture taken before antibiotics administered | 93% | 93% | 90% |
| Taking a blood culture before administering antibiotics is important to check for the presence of the pneumonia bacteria and can help in determining which antibiotic will work best for the patient. | |||
| Antibiotic given within 6 hours of arrival | 96% | 94% | 96% |
| Better survival rates have been shown in patients who were given antibiotics within 8 hours of arriving to the hospital. | |||
| Initial antibiotic consistent with current recommendations | 97% | 91% | 87% |
| Advised to quit smoking | 95%* | 97% | 88% |
| Quitting smoking can prevent a reoccurrence of pneumonia, thus patients are counseled on how to quit. | |||
* Barton has an opportunity to improve our clinical indicators. We are building an outcome nurse program to identify patients on admission who may have the diagnosis of pneumonia and follow these patients through their stay. This assures our team of practitioners not only follow, but document our adherence to the guidelines. These specially trained registered nurses will be working as a team with your physician(s) to improve the care of pneumonia patients by assuring preventative measures. One example is that pneumonia patients are screened for vaccines and, if appropriate, the vaccine(s) are given. Nurses also provide smoking cessation advice and cessation program information. In addition, our recruitment of four hospitalists (hospital based internists who solely work in the hospital on rotating shifts) has greatly improved the continuity of care.
