04 Jun 2025 Oral vs IV antibiotics
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In this TI Best Evidence webinar, Dr. Davie Wong addressed a historical practice that is often unwarranted, by reviewing evidence from RCTs and comparing the advantages and disadvantages of oral and IV antibiotics. He suggested criteria to determine when oral therapy is appropriate and answered questions about this topic. Click on the DOWNLOAD button to view or download the slide deck.
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TITLE: Oral vs IV antibiotics
WHEN: Wednesday, June 4th, 2025 at 12:00 PM PDT [convert to your local time]
WHERE: free online webinar.
SPEAKER: Dr. Davie Wong, infectious disease consultant at Royal Columbian Hospital and Eagle Ridge Hospital.
CME CREDITS: MainPro+ credits: 1.0.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES (by the end of this session, participants will be able to):
- Choose oral antibiotics as the evidence-based standard of care for most stable patients.
- Reserve IV therapy for critically ill patients and situations where oral administration is not possible, or is not supported by evidence.
- Convert to oral therapy patients initially prescribed IV treatment, as soon as clinically appropriate.
About the topic: Many clinicians perceive intravenous (IV) antibiotics as inherently more effective than their oral counterparts. However, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have demonstrated that oral antibiotics are clinically equivalent to IV antibiotics for many severe bacterial infections. This includes pneumonia, skin and soft tissue infections, pyelonephritis, intra-abdominal infections, osteoarticular infections, bacteremia, and infective endocarditis. When clinically appropriate, oral treatment is more patient-friendly, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly. But we still use the IV route much more than necessary. To address a historical practice that is often unwarranted, issue 155 (May 2025) of the Therapeutics Letter: Oral vs IV antibiotics reviews evidence from RCTs, compares the advantages and disadvantages of oral and IV antibiotics, and suggests criteria to determine when oral therapy is appropriate.
About the speaker: Dr. Davie Wong is an infectious disease consultant at Royal Columbian Hospital and Eagle Ridge Hospital in Fraser Health. He has an office practice in a multidisciplinary clinic in Burnaby called Centrio Medical Specialists. He also provides care for HIV patients at Positive Health Services clinic in Surrey. He is a member of the regional antimicrobial stewardship committee. Davie is a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Disease at UBC. He obtained his medical degree and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Manitoba, before coming to UBC to complete his infectious disease fellowship.
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