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Background: Early antibiotic administration to patients diagnosed of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been associated with a lower mortality. In the USA, its administration within four hours has been implanted as a quality standard. The objective of this work was to analyze, in a Spanish emergency department, the performance with patients with CAP, focusing on the administration of the first dose of antibiotic., Patients and Method: Clinics, welfare and organizational aspects have been analysed on 93 patients diagnosed of CAP in an emergency department in order to identify their influence on antibiotic administration within 4 hours., Results: 46.2% of patients received antibiotics within 4 hours. The fact that patients were assisted in the higher complexity level showed a positive association with the antibiotic administration within 4 hours. On the contrary, presence of more than 10 patients waiting to be admitted showed a negative association., Conclusions: Early antibiotic administration in the CAP is possible. On order to guarantee a higher number of patients taking antibiotics within 4 hours we have to improve quality of care in both the emergency department (to guarantee correct classification according to the level of complexity) and in the hospital (management of beds to avoid delay in the admission of the patients)., (Copyright (c) 2008 Sociedad Española de Calidad Asistencial. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.)