Saudi Journal of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SJMPS)
Volume-7 | Issue-03 | 160-164
Original Research Article
Influence of Intravenous to Oral Antibiotic Conversion and its Practice in a Tertiary Care Hospital
Tamilselvan T, Prasanth KG, Nimisha RN, Sani M Sabu, Swetha V, Anaha Krishna Kumar, Shylaja
Published : March 22, 2021
Abstract
Antibiotic therapy is crucial in the effective management of infectious diseases and its irrational use is a major risk factor for the development of drug-resistant organisms. An early switch from Intravenous to Oral antibiotic therapy could be one of the factors that influence the Length of Hospital Stay and increase the treatment cost. The aim of the study was to evaluate the practice of Intravenous to oral antibiotic conversion and its impact on patient care and clinical outcome at a tertiary care Hospital. A prospective observational study was conducted for 6 months. Patient demographic details, medical & medication history, diagnosis, drug administration, conversion day & time, microbiological reports, discharge summaries were collected from case sheets. Day of therapy, duration of Intravenous & oral antibiotic therapy, Length of Hospital Stay were calculated &compared. Results reveal that 68.25% were converted from IV to oral while 31.75% were not converted. Since we got a high number of converted cases, therefore, the days of therapy (68.68%), length of hospital stay (62.21%), duration of IV therapy (60.63%) were increased for converted groups than the not converted group. Calculated estimated cost (Rs.471.59) for the treatment shown increased for the not converted group. Early conversion of IV to oral in patients with at least 24 hours of IV therapy can shorten the duration of IV therapy and reduce treatment costs without altering the outcome of treatment.