This patient should be switched to an oral antibiotic agent, and he should be discharged when otherwise clinically ready. Empiric intravenous antibiotic therapy is usually started in patients requiring hospital admission for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), as was done with this patient, to cover the most likely infecting organisms. He has had an appropriate response to therapy as indicated by improvement in his clinical symptoms (fever, cough, dyspnea) within the 3 days of treatment. Patients treated with intravenous antibiotics for CAP with an appropriate clinical response can be switched to an oral agent, generally of the same antimicrobial class and with similar spectrum of activity, when clinical stability has been attained. Parameters suggesting clinical stability include 1) temperature of 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) or less, 2) heart rate of 100/min or less, 3) respiration rate of 24/min or less, 4) systolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or greater, 5) arterial oxygen saturation of 90% or more or PO₂ of 60 mm Hg (8.0 kPa) or greater breathing ambient air (or requiring a similar amount of supplemental oxygen as before admission if the patient receives chronic oxygen therapy), 6) ability to maintain oral intake, and 7) normal mental status.

Extended intravenous antibiotic therapy in stable patients without another indication for prolonging this treatment has not been shown to be more beneficial than oral therapy. Similarly, overlapping intravenous and oral antibiotic therapy, or hospital monitoring of stable patients following the transition from parenteral to oral therapy, has not been shown to improve outcomes.