Questionnaires were used to evaluate the effects on health care resource use outside the hospital (recorded daily after discharge). Quality of life was determined with the short form health survey questionnaire (www.sf-36.org) recorded at days 3, 10 and 28 of the study. Additional questionnaires were used to measure the effects of an early discharge on the workload for family members (questionnaire at day 28 of study) and effects of administration route on freedom of movement, adverse events and compliance (questionnaire at day 7 of study). Treatment failures were defined as death, clinical deterioration (clinical worsening such that the patient needed mechanical ventilation, re-administration of intravenous antibiotics after a switch to oral therapy, readmission for pulmonary reinfection after discharge, increase in temperature after initial improvement) or hospitalization at day 28 of the study. Clinical cure was defined as discharged in good health without signs and symptoms of pneumonia and no treatment failures during the follow-up period. 21