Improving antibiotic delivery time to pneumonia patients: continuous quality improvement in action.

A multidisciplinary team simplified the process of antibiotic delivery to patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia and successfully implemented key changes that resulted in improved clinical practice and patient satisfaction at Providence Medical Center. Within 6 months of implementing an emergency room preadmission procedure, an antibiotic treatment protocol, and a sputum collection protocol, the average antibiotic initiation time dropped from 6.8 hours to 3.6 hours. Recommendations made for antibiotic selection and dosing led to a cost savings of over $109,000 per year. Highlighted in this article are several quality improvement tools, as well as practical tips and advice on effective team building.