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Considerations when documenting complex pneumonia

02 Feb 2020

Could you be treating an aspiration pneumonia?



By: Terryn Spragg, RN, CDIS, CCDS

Considerations when documenting complex pneumonia

Could you be treating an aspiration pneumonia?

By Terryn Spragg, RN, CDIS, CCDS

Because aspiration pneumonia is complex and reflects your patient’s severity of illness, please consider charting this diagnosis in Epic — rather than just as pneumonia — when your patient has the following risk factors:

  • Do they have a Dx of: RLL pneumonia or Alcoholism or Dysphagia?
  • Are they of advanced age or a nursing facility resident?
  • Did they fail a Swallow Study?
  • Are they being treated with Flagyl, Clindamycin or Zosyn?