Conquer community acquired pneumonia and avoid misdiagnosis with tips from Dr. Robert Centor, Professor Emeritus University of Alabama and newly appointed Chair of Medicine at Kashlak Memorial Hospital. We discuss diagnosis, misdiagnosis, procalcitonin, steroids for severe pneumonia, pneumonia severity index versus CURB-65, and how to determine antibiotic choice and duration. Special thanks to Correspondents Neela Bhajandas (cohost), Justin Berk and Bryan Brown who all contributed several articles, resources, and questions to prep for this show. Cover image by Dr Kate Grant paintscientific.com. Full show notes available at http://thecurbsiders.com/podcast Join our mailing list and receive a PDF copy of our show notes every Monday. Rate us on iTunes, recommend a guest or topic and give feedback at thecurbsiders@gmail.com. Time Stamps 00:00 Intro 02:38 Brief bio for Dr Centor 04:22 Picks of the week with Dr Centor 11:27 Clinical case of suspected pneumonia 12:30 Brief history of community acquired pneumonia 14:40 Misdiagnosis rates are high 16:18 Defining diagnostic criteria for pneumonia 18:50 Chest x rays and pneumonia 22:18 Illness scripts teaching about pneumonia 23:41 Ubiquitous misunderstanding of pneumonia definition 25:26 History and physical exam tips from Dr Centor 27:19 Further testing for pneumonia, PSI, CURB-65 32:50 Procalcitonin discussed 38:10 Antibiotic choice discussed with Dr Bhajandas 41:15 Safety considerations for various antibiotics 43:38 Use of high dose amoxicillin 44:45 Dr Centor’s antibiotic preferences, and some thoughts on blood and sputum cultures 46:55 Dangers of fluoroquinolones 48:25 Antibiotic duration 51:40 HCAP is no longer a thing and how to assess risk for drug resistant organisms 55:42 Corticosteroids for pneumonia 60:25 Inpatient antibiotic choices 62:00 Dr Centor’s take home points 62:45 Dr Centor becomes Chair of Kashlak Memorial 65:38 Outro Tags: pneumonia, community, acquired, cap, antibiotic, duration, diagnosis, misdiagnosis, strep, cough, procalcitonin, steroids, fluoroquinolones, azithromycin, drug, resistant, mdro, illness, assistant, care, education, doctor, family, foam, foamed, health, hospitalist, hospital, internal, internist, nurse, meded, medical, medicine, practitioner, professional, primary, physician, resident, student