Guessous I, Cornuz J, Stoianov R, Burnand B, Fitting JW, Yersin B, Lamy O
The objective of this study was to measure and compare the efficacy of two modalities of chest physiotherapy (CP) guideline implementation on the appropriateness of CP prescription among patients hospitalised for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). The CP prescription rate and duration in all consecutive CAP inpatients admitted in a division of general internal medicine at an urban teaching community hospital during three consecutive one-year time periods: (1) before any guideline implementation; (2) after a passive implementation by medical grand rounds and guideline diffusion through mailing; (3) after adding a one-page reminder in the CAP patient's medical chart highlighting our recommendations. Death and recurrent hospitalisation rates within one year after hospitalisation were recorded to assess whether CP prescription reduction, if any, impaired patient outcomes.
The results showed that both passive and active implementation of guidelines appear to improve the appropriateness of CP prescription among inpatients with CAP without impairing their outcomes. Restricting CP use to patients who benefit from this treatment might be an opportunity to decrease CAP medical cost and workload.
Respir Med. 2008 Sep;102(9):1257-63