Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Nov 2009
Multicenter Study Meta Analysis Comparative StudyAssociation between timing of intensive care unit admission and outcomes for emergency department patients with community-acquired pneumonia.
To compare the 28-day mortality and hospital length of stay of patients with community-acquired pneumonia who were transferred to an intensive care unit on the same day of emergency department presentation (direct-transfer patients) with those subsequently transferred within 3 days of presentation (delayed-transfer patients). ⋯ Our findings suggest that some patients without major criteria for severe community-acquired pneumonia, according to the recent Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society consensus guideline, may benefit from direct transfer to the intensive care unit. Further studies are needed to prospectively identify patients who may benefit from direct intensive care unit admission despite a lack of major severity criteria for community-acquired pneumonia based on the current guidelines.