Indications for Hospitalizing a Pediatric Patient with Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP)

Patient selection:pediatric patient with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP)

Indications to hospitalize the patient - one or more of the following:

(1) moderate to severe CAP

(2) infant < 6 months of age AND CAP suspected to be of bacterial origin

(3) presence of a pathogen associated with increased virulence

(4) social issues in the home environment associated with increased morbidity and mortality (inability to observe, inability to bring the child to the hospital if there is a sudden deterioration, inability to comply with therapeutic plan)

where:

• A modification to item 3 would be a child at risk for increased complications from an infection because of one or more comorbid conditions (a minor criteria from the previous section)