system
Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: OBJECTIVE, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Adult, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Bed Occupancy, Crowding, Emergency Service, Hospital, Emergency Treatment, Health Services Research, Hospitals, Community, Humans, Illinois, Linear Models, Logistic Models, Odds Ratio, Patient Admission, Pneumonia, Quality of Health Care, ROC Curve, Retrospective Studies, Safety, Statistics, Nonparametric, Time Factors, Total Quality Management.
user
Is eD crowding associated with an increased time to pneumonia treatment? Context: We measured the correlation between emergency department (ED) occupancy rate and time to antibiotic administration for patients with pneumonia treated in a community hospital setting. We reviewed quality improvement data on patients treated for pneumonia in our ED and admitted over a 5-month period. The outcomes were timeliness of antibiotic therapy (within 4 hours of arrival) and overall time to antibiotic administration. Emergency department crowding was measured as the ED occupancy rate. We calculated (1) the Spearman correlation between occupancy rate at time of patient presentation and the time to antibiotic administration, (2) the odds ratio of receiving antibiotics within 4 hours with increasing ED occupancy, and (3) the ability of the occupancy rate to predict failure of achieving the 4-hour goal with the receiver operating characteristic curve. A total of 334 patients were treated over the study period, of which 262 had complete data available. Occupancy rate ranged from 20% to 245%, and median was 137%. Eighty-one percent received antibiotics within 4 hours; the median time was 150 minutes. Time to antibiotics showed a positive correlation with occupancy rate (Spearman ρ = 0.17, P = .008). An increasing ED occupancy rate was associated with decreased odds of receiving antibiotics within 4 hours (odds ratio, 0.31; 95% confidence interval, 0.13-0.75). Receiver operating characteristic curve area was 0.62 (95% confidence interval, 0.54-0.70; P = .009).
assistant
Emergency department occupancy rate was associated with increased time to antibiotic treatment for patients admitted with pneumonia. Occupancy rate had fair success in predicting failure of treatment within 4 hours. Final Decision: yes