Early clinical assessment of pneumonia and bronchopneumonia treatment in a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit

Introduction: Nosocomial infections are common. Nosocomial pneumonia is the second most common among these infections and is the first in the Intensive Care Unit, where it reaches an incidence of 10-20%. Objective: To determine the effect of progressive clinical assessment from 48-72 hours of initiation of antimicrobial therapy. Method: A descriptive, prospective, cross-sectional research was performed in 57 paoped nosocomial pneumonia or bronchopneumonia and were admitted at the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit of Dr. Celestino Hernandez Robau hospital, from January 3 to December 31, 2013. Results: The initial clinical categorization favored the diagnosis of 50 early pneumonia and bronchopneumonia and 7 serious ones. Progressive assessment from 48-72 hours identified the unsatisfactory evolution in 6 (12%) of the early nosocomial pneumonia and in 4 (57.1%) of the serious ones. Conclusions: The early progressive clinical assessment is useful for detecting response to antimicrobial treatment of nosocomial pneumonia and act accordingly.