Healthcare-Associated Pneumonia

Pneumonia is frequently encountered in the clinical fields, both as a cause for admission and as a complication of the underlying disorder or as the course of treatment. Pneumonia is the second most common hospital-acquired infection and is associated with the highest morbidity and mortality rates among hospital-acquired infections. The guidelines for the management of hospital-acquired pneumonia by the American Thoracic Society include identifying individuals who have recently received antibiotics therapy or have been in medical facilities; these individuals are at higher risk for infection with multiple drug resistant organisms. Individuals, who have acquired pneumonia according to this clinical scenario, have what is known as healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP). Patients with HCAP should be considered to have potentially drug-resistant pathogens and should receive broad spectrum empiric antibiotic therapy directed at the potentially resistant organisms. In this paper, the diagnosis, risk factors, and treatment of HCAP are discussed.