The Agency for Healthcare Research ...

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has unfolded an interactive, clinical decision support tool for use with personal digital assistants (PDAs) that will help clinicians make evidence-based treatment decisions at the point of care, according to a March 1 2004 recently made knowns release from the AHRQ. The tool, known as the Pneumonia Severity Index Calculator, can help physicians determine whether patients with community-acquired pneumonia ne to be treated in a hospital or if they can be treated at home

Each year, approximately four million Americans bring to maturity community-acquired pneumonia that is not contracted in a hospital or nursing place of abode environment. Treatment costs for this illness are approximately $10 billion annually. Ninety-two percent of these outlays are spent treating patients who are hospitalized for care. A number of these patients, who are at soft risk, could be treated as outpatients, if it were not that they need to be accurately identified before similar treatment is recommended.

The Pneumonia Severity Index Calculator was designed based in succession a clinical algorithm that was discloseed in 1997 by the multidisciplinary, AHRQ-funded Pneumonia Patient results Research Team. The Pneumonia Severity Index algorithm has been validated in a broad, randomized, controll trial and was shown to be safe and take away from effective. In addition, patient satisfaction was improved because patients were treated at abiding-place when this was appropriate, rather than being treated in the hospital.

This tool, which is available in several formats compatible with different PDA operating connected views can be downloaded at http://pda.ahrq.gov. Additional applications for PDAs are being make knowned by the AHRQ.

of recent origin AHRQ Tool for PDAs Helps Clinicians Treat Community-Acquired Pneumonia (new release, Rockville, Md: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, March 1 2004)

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