Abstract
Background
Early conversion from intravenous to oral antibiotic therapy is an effective way to save costs and promote earlier hospital discharge.
Objective
This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of intravenous to oral conversion of antibiotic therapy with respect to clinical outcomes.
Methodology
An ambispective observational study constitutes two phases—a retrospective phase where intravenous to oral conversion was performed before active involvement of the clinical pharmacist, and a prospective phase consisting of pharmacist recommendations for the early conversion of intravenous to oral route.
Results
In this study, 83 and 88 patients were included in the retrospective and prospective phases, respectively. As per the criteria for an intravenous to oral switch, 71 (86%) patients in the retrospective phase and 84 (95%) patients in the prospective phase were eligible for conversion, of whom 13 (18%) and 66 (79%) patients, respectively, were switched. The average length of hospital stay was found to be 4.4 ± 0.7 days in the retrospective phase and 6.0 ± 1.5 days in the prospective phase (p < 0.005). The reinfection and readmission rates were similar among both phases (p > 0.05). The additional number of intravenous therapy days decreased from 112 days in the retrospective phase to 35 days in the prospective phase.
Conclusion
This study emphasizes that the practice of conversion from intravenous to oral antibiotic therapy has a considerable impact on clinical outcomes among hospitalized inpatients. There was no observed difference in readmission and reinfection rates after early conversion to oral therapy.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully thank Dr. Ann Mary Swaroop, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bengaluru, India, Dr. Faizan Mazhar, Università Di Milano, Milan, Italy, Dr. Neha Reddy and Dr. Anjana V.D for their technical assistance and language editing. The authors also thank the Head of the Institute as well as all staff members of the Department of Pharmacy Practice who made this research possible, and would like to express their gratitude to all study participants who showed their willingness to participate in this study.
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BA, PS, and VS contributed to the study conception, literature review, and drafting of the manuscript. AKT and SV contributed to the data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of the data. All authors proofread and approved the submitted version of the article.
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No funding was received for this study.
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Bellapu Anusha, Preethi Shanmugam, T. Anil Kumar, Sharma Vasista, Chacko Stephy, and Viswam Subeesh are responsible for the article content and declare no relevant conficts of interest.
Ethics approval
The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Scientific and Ethics Committee and all recommendations were acknowledged (EC/Ph-10/2018).
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Consent was obtained from all study participants.
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Anusha, B., Shanmugam, P., Anil Kumar, T. et al. Early conversion of intravenous to oral antibiotic therapy in uncomplicated urinary and respiratory tract infection. Drugs Ther Perspect 37, 181–186 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40267-021-00815-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40267-021-00815-4