Blood Cultures in Pneumonia
A 75 year old woman is found to have pneumonia. With a CURB-65 of 3 and a PORT score of 95, she is correctly treated her for community acquired pneumonia with Ceftriaxone and Azithromycin, and admitted. Unfortunately, the admitting service points out that no blood cultures were drawn! What is the evidence for this?
Originally from Clinical Monster blog
Intravenous sodium bicarbonate seems like a wonderful drug. It fixes acidosis, pushes potassium into cells, alkalinizes urine, and even helps with smelly feet. However, this literature review of four conditions casts some doubt into the seemingly cure-all that is bicarbonate.