Impact of Comprehensive Education on Antibiotic Duration of Therapy for Community-Acquired Pneumonia in a Community Hospital.

This article focuses on a quality improvement project assessing the impact of comprehensive pharmacist- and provider-led education on the duration of antibiotic therapy for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) at a community hospital. Following education aligned with the 2019 Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) guidelines recommending a minimum of five days of therapy upon clinical stability, the total antibiotic duration decreased significantly by 0.9 days overall, with greater reductions observed in patients who experienced antibiotic switches or received outpatient antibiotic prescriptions at discharge. Despite these improvements, a substantial proportion of patients continued to receive antibiotic durations exceeding guideline recommendations, highlighting ongoing opportunities for antimicrobial stewardship, particularly regarding outpatient prescriptions and empiric use of broad-spectrum agents. The study was limited to non-critically ill, immunocompetent adults and suggests further interventions could optimize antibiotic use in CAP treatment.