Duration of antibiotic treatment and timing of oral switching for bloodstream infections: a survey on the practices of infectious diseases and intensive care physicians.

AIM: To understand current practice in terms of duration of antibiotic treatment and timing of intravenous (IV) to oral switching for common bacteraemic conditions amongst infectious diseases (ID) and intensive care unit (ICU) physicians.

METHODS: An online survey consisting of 18 questions comprising five common clinical bacteraemia scenarios [adapted from the original survey designed by the University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)] was conducted amongst Turkish ID and ICU physicians between November 2020 and November 2021.

RESULTS: In total, 236 physicians (76.5% ID and 17.5% ICU) responded. The most commonly recommended duration of antibiotic treatment for bacteraemia was 14 days (42%), followed by 10 (27%) and 7 (18%) days. The median recommended treatment durations were 10 [interquartile range (IQR) 10-14] days for central-venous-catheter-associated bloodstream infection, 10 (IQR 7-14) days for bacteraemic pneumonia, 14 (IQR 10-14) days for bacteraemic urinary tract and intra-abdominal infections, and 14 (IQR 7-14) days for bacteraemic skin and soft tissue infection. Carbapenem resistance influenced the recommendations, but pathogen type did not. No significant difference in responses for most scenarios was found between ID and ICU physicians. Switching to oral antibiotics after a median duration of 7 (IQR 5-7) days of IV treatment was considered by 80% of respondents.

CONCLUSION: Prolonged treatment was recommended for most clinical scenarios. Extended IV durations were recommended before oral switching. A presumption that resistant bacterial infections require longer therapy may be responsible for prolonged treatment durations.