Respiratory Tract Infections CUE CARDS Flashcards
What is the anatomical basis for RTI?
Upper and Lower
What is pneumonia?
An infection of the lower RT with fluid and pus filled air space contained bacteria and blood cells
What is community acquired pneumonia
Infection caught by the patient in the community setting (not in hospital or in hospital for <48 hrs) and are not significantly immunocompromised
How is CAP classified in terms of its severity?
Is this person someone who has pneumonia who can be treated safely in community or do they need to be admitted to hospital?
What can be performed to diagnose pneumonia?
Chest X-ray = cloudiness = pneumonia in that lobe
What are red flags of CAP?
HR > 100bpm
Hypotension
Confusion
What are the assessment tools used to identify CAP?
Assessment tools are used to identify patients who are at greatest risk of having a poor outcome and therefore need for more aggressive management
What are the tools to assess severity of CAP?
> CORB
> SMARTCOP: adds in additional factors that influence risk
What are the typical and atypical causative organisms causing CAP?
> Typical: streptococcus pneumoniae (most causes of severe illness or death, increasing resistances to macrolides and doxycycline), haemophilus influenzae (<5%)
> Atypical: mycoplasma pneumoniae, chlamydia pneumoniae, legionella
What is the role of sputum and what is a problem with this?
> They are difficult to obtain and take longer to culture
> Understanding likely causal pathogens and sensitivity patterns very important for guiding empirical therapy
What is empirical treatment of CAP based on?
Based on severity assessed (SMARTCOP or CORB) and the need to cover both the typical and atypical organisms
How can pneumonia be prevented?
> Pneumococcal vaccination
> Recommended in 65 yrs or older
> Protects from a range of infections such as pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia
What is hospital acquired pneumonia?
> Pneumonia which develops in a patient who had no signs or symptoms on admission, has been hospitalised for >48hrs, has been transferred from another healthcare facility including nursing homes
> Associated with multidrug resistant infections
> More likely in intubated patients
What is the treatment of HAP guided by?
> Guided by the likely risk that the patient has a resistant organism
> Due to breadth of causative organisms, patients may require a number of abx to cover all of these
What is the risk of HAP determined by?
> Location in hospital
> Amount of time they’ve spent there