An Older Adult Patient with a History of Chronic Obstructive $\degree$

An older adult patient with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) develops bronchitis. The patient has a temperature of 39.5 $\degree$ C. What action will the provider initially take to assure effective care for this patient?

A) Order a sputum culture and prescribe an antibiotic based on the results.
B) Order an empiric antibiotic while waiting for sputum culture results.
C) Treat symptomatically, because antibiotics are usually ineffective against bronchitis.
D) Treat the patient with more than one antibiotic without obtaining cultures.