Opportunities, associations, and impact of early intravenous to oral antimicrobial switch for hospitalized patients in Ethiopia

OBJECTIVE: Short intravenous antimicrobial therapy for 2–3 days followed by its per oral comparable antimicrobial course is a crucial part of the antimicrobial stewardship program. However, nothing is known about this practice in Ethiopian hospitals. Therefore, this study assessed the proportion, associations, and outcomes of early intravenous to per oral antimicrobial switch for patients who were admitted to the three wards of Ambo University Referral Hospital. METHOD: A hospital-based prospective cohort pilot study was conducted. During the 3-month period, 117 patients met initial inclusion criteria and were followed until Day 3 of intravenous antimicrobial. Of these, 92 (78.6%) subsequently met criteria for early intravenous to per oral switch and are the cohort investigated in this study. Written informed consent was sought from participants and/or parents or guardian for ages 15–17 years. Logistic regression models and independent t-tests were done with a significance of p ⩽ 0.05. RESULTS: Out of 92 study participants, early intravenous to per oral antimicrobial switch was done only for 36 (39.1%). The only independent predictors for lack of early intravenous to per oral antimicrobials switch were poly-pharmacy (adjusted odds ratio = 3.4 at 95% confidence interval, 1.036–11.16; p = 0.044). There was a significant difference in terms of mean length of hospital stay (8.80 ± 3.57 versus 3.17 ± 0.74; p < 0.0001), in-hospital complication rate (95% versus 5%; p < 0.0001), and the mean cost of healthcare in Ethiopian Birrs (652.29 ± 403.29 versus 126.67 ± 29.47; p < 0.0001) between the comparator/early intravenous to per oral not switched and early switched group, respectively. CONCLUSION: The proportion of early intravenous to per oral antimicrobial switch was unsatisfactory. There was a significant difference between the intervention and comparator groups in terms of length of hospital stay, in-hospital complications, and extra cost. Therefore, implementation of interventions that improve the practice of early intravenous to per oral switch is needed urgently.