The management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults at a rural regional hospital in KwaZulu Natal.

Background: Pneumonia stands as a significant global contributor to mortality, particularly in South Africa, where it ranks as the second leading cause of death. The country's high prevalence of HIV infection compounds this issue, significantly increasing mortality rates associated with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Objective: This study aimed to audit CAP patient management at a regional rural hospital in KwaZulu-Natal.

Method: A retrospective review of patient files from September to December 2016 was undertaken. Data extraction from clinical files, conducted according to inclusion criteria, was transferred to a data collection sheet and analyzed using SPSS version 21.

Results: The review encompassed 124 patient files over four months, revealing that 117 (94.4%) patients were not managed by the Standard Treatment Guidelines and Essential Medicines List for South Africa. Of the patients admitted with CAP, 54% were HIV positive, and 49 (39.5%) patients succumbed to the illness. Notably, none of the patients underwent assessment using a severity score.

Conclusion: The findings underscore a need for more adherence to South African guidelines for managing CAP among staff at the rural regional hospital. This leads to severe consequences, exemplified by the high mortality rate. Urgent intervention is required to incorporate severity assessment scores into pneumonia evaluations, thus enabling appropriate clinical management.

Contribution: This study sheds light on the significant impact of CAP within the South African hospital context, delineating critical gaps in clinical care and emphasizing the imperative to address clinical inertia.