In this episode, I’ll discuss the most exciting part about the new Community Acquired Pneumonia guidelines!
The CAP guidelines were updated in October 2019, having gone 12 years without changes. The most exciting part of the guidelines, and one that has the biggest implication for antibiotic stewardship is that the guideline authors took the issue of expanded coverage for aspiration pneumonia head-on. Although the recommendation is conditional, the authors state:
We suggest not routinely adding anaerobic coverage for suspected aspiration pneumonia unless lung abscess or empyema is suspected.
When this recommendation is translated into clinical practice, it should result in less unnecessary use of clindamycin or β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors, which are associated with high rates of C. difficile infection.
In episode 450, I’ll go into more detail on the rationale behind these new recommendations and talk about how to translate this part of the guidelines into practice.
Members of my Hospital Pharmacy Academy have access to my complete breakdown of the new CAP guidelines from a pharmacist’s point of view as well as many other resources to help in your practice. To sign up go to pharmacyjoe.com/academy.
If you like this post, check out my book – A Pharmacist’s Guide to Inpatient Medical Emergencies: How to respond to code blue, rapid response calls, and other medical emergencies.
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