BMJ  2006;333 (9 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39057.387593.BE

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Many patients with mildly to moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia are switched from intravenous to oral antibiotics early in their hospital stay to cut costs and get them out of hospital. Jan Oosterheert et al tested this strategy on patients with severe pneumonia in a randomized trial (doi: 10.1136/bmj.38993.560984.BE). They found that if the patients were clinically stable on hospital day three, switching them to oral antibiotics was safe and led to a two-day decrease in hospital length of stay. Graham Mills and Richard Laing state in an editorial (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39050.672639.80) that the days of "one treatment fits all" for community acquired pneumonia are over and that more research should further define personally customized treatments for these patients.

The ever-growing population of aging baby-boomers makes finding treatments for Alzheimer's dementia increasingly important. Maud Graff and colleagues conducted a randomized trial (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39001.688843.BE) in of 10 occupational therapy sessions . . . [Full text of this article]

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