Wk9PharmDiscMain.docx - Post a brief description of your...

Post a brief description of your patient's health needs and explain the type of treatment regimen
you would recommend. Include pharmacotherapeutic recommendations with explanations and
justifications. Explain a patient education strategy you might recommend for assisting your
patient with the management of their health needs. Be specific and use examples.
Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is defined as pneumonia acquired outside the hospital
(Wright & Maydom, 2016). It has been recognized as potentially lethal with pre-antibiotic era
mortality rates at 1 per 1000 per year (Bartlett & Mundy, 2015). It is currently estimated that
there are 4 million cases of CAP in the United States with Streptococcus Pneumoniae responsible
for over 80% of the reported cases. Other common causes include Haemophilus influenza,
Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Legionella species, and viruses. Common
signs and symptoms of the disease are fever, cough, sputum production, pleuritic chest pain,
dyspnea, tachypnea, and tachycardia. Prognosis is excellent for relatively young or healthy
patients, but many types of pneumonia, especially when caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae,
Legionella, Staphylococcus aureus, or influenza virus, are serious or even fatal in older, sicker
patients (Bartlett & Mundy, 2015). Pneumonia diagnosis is suspected based on clinical
presentation, but tests like x-ray should be done to check the presence of infiltrate. Quantitative