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Stuck on IV antimicrobials (antibiotics or antifungals) in a hospital bed? You can ask your medical team about switching to an oral version of your medication.
Antimicrobial intravenous-to-oral switch: criteria for prompt switch.
We have linked in the suggested guidelines for your medical team here – Criteria
Antimicrobial drugs (antibiotics and antifungal) are vitally important should we get an infection. We have grown used to their impact on our health. Unfortunately we can take them for granted no more, and their usefulness is slowly dwindling while markedly fewer new antimicrobials are becoming available since the year 2000 than in the previous 20 years.
The main problem is that microbes that used to be quickly killed by antimicrobials are gradually getting harder to treat, they don’t respond to treatment as quickly as they used to. They are becoming resistant.
We have enough new drugs to ensure that we are all safe as long as we preserve what we have better. As a response to this problem (crisis?) the UK 20-year vision for antimicrobial resistance launched in 2019 spells out how we are going to slow the spread of antifungal resistance.
There are a number of strategies designed to contribute to this overall vision which are outlined in ‘Tackling antimicrobial resistance 2019-2024′. The purpose is to inform and persuade doctors all over the UK how and why we can all slow the rise of resistance down and we believe patients can play a part.
When a patient is critically ill the best and fastest way to get antimicrobials into their bodies in sufficient quantity to kill an infection is directly into their bloodstream via an intravenous (IV) catheter. However once the infection is past its peak we know that it is effective to switch the patient to taking the antibiotic orally. This is better for your doctor because it cuts the risk of further infection via the catheter, better for the NHS as it cuts costs, and better for the patient because it can mean a shorter stay in hospital and a much more convenient way to keep fighting the infection without being tied to a hospital bed.
If you are improving on IV antimicrobial medication ask your medical team if it is Time for a Switch