使用一種質量提高系統能夠提醒醫生注意肺炎患者的治療指南，從而可以提高整體醫療質量并降低不必要的住院治療。

這是由匹茲堡大學醫學院(Pittsburgh , PA, USA)和匹茲堡VA醫療保健系統開展的一項研究的結果。這些研究結果發表在2005年12月的《內科學年報》。

這項研究設計了32家醫院急診科的3,200多例診斷為肺炎的患者，這些患者由于肺炎而出現了各種不良預后的危險。所有參見研究的急診科同意遵循統一的治療指南，該指南是根據美國肺炎治療專家的意見而制定的。

這些急診科被隨機分配為低強度、中等強度或者高強度機構，--這些名稱反應了各家急診科采取的反饋、加強和持續的質量提高的水平和強度。

據估計僅僅在美國每年大約有5百萬例患者被診斷為肺炎，但是盡管這種疾病發病率較高，醫生經常高估了患者的死亡率，從而導致不必要而且費用昂貴的住院治療。

Reducing Pneumonia Hospitalizations
 
Implementation of a quality-improvement system reminds physicians of treatment guidelines for pneumonia patients, which leads to better overall care and fewer unnecessary hospitalizations.

These were the conclusions of a study conducted by investigators from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (Pittsburgh , PA, USA) and the Pittsburgh VA Healthcare System. The findings were published in the December 2005 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study involved 32 hospital emergency departments and more than 3,200 patients diagnosed with pneumonia who posed varying risks of adverse outcomes from the disease. All participating emergency departments agreed to follow uniform practice guidelines, which were based on expert consensus of U.S. experts in pneumonia care.

The emergency departments were randomly assigned as low-intensity, moderate-intensity or high-intensity sites--designations reflecting the level and intensity of feedback, reinforcement, and continuous quality improvement activities that each emergency department would carry out relevant to its pneumonia patients.

An estimated 5 million pneumonia cases are diagnosed each year in the United States alone, but despite its prevalence, physicians frequently overestimate the probability of death in many pneumonia patients, leading to potentially unnecessary and costly hospitalizations.