Antibiotics are used to treat pneumonia that is caused by bacteria. The sooner a patient with bacteria pneumonia is given the most appropriate antibiotic, the more quickly they begin to recover. An appropriate antibiotic can also reduce the possibility of complications.

This measure reports the percent of adult pneumonia patients who are given an antibiotic within four hours of arriving at the hospital.

A high score is better than a low score.

The chart above shows how Cedars-Sinai's performance on this measure compared with the top 10% of hospitals in the United States, the national average for hospitals, the top 10% of hospitals in California and the California average. These data reflect care given to patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from April through June 2007. The national and California data reflect care given to patients from April 2006 through March 2007.