Key resources on AMS to support your further learning

In this section, we will share additional resources to support your knowledge of education and training for AMS.

The WHO has produced a number of useful documents to support you in setting up an AMS programme. Throughout this course, we have referred at length to the AMS toolkit for healthcare facilities in LMICs. Below we highlight two more excellent WHO resources to supplement your learning.

AMR curricula guide for health workers

The WHO have developed a standardised curriculum for healthcare workers to learn about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and to enable them to become good antimicrobial stewards. The WHO guide ‘Health workers education and training on antimicrobial resistance’ can be adapted for pre-service or in-service learners, for different healthcare settings and according to local needs, AMR patterns and AMS policies. Learning outcomes for pre-service and in-service training can be categorised by knowledge gained, skills acquired and attitudes developed.

The WHO / UKHSA curricula have a matrix system depending on the category of healthcare worker (see below). There are vertical pillars for prescribers, non-prescribers, public health officers/managers and other healthcare workers with patient management roles. The horizontal spines in the matrix show the modular AMR learning topics for the competencies needed by different healthcare workers. There are core competencies for the knowledge, skills and attitudes required and additional desirable competencies that might be needed for particular healthcare settings.

Health professionals for a new century

Healthcare professional education has been transformed from a traditional model to a competency-based model for learning. Traditionally, the healthcare education model was based on science and undertaken in institutions, designed to meet educational objectives that could be tested by assessment. The more modern competency-based educational model focuses on healthcare systems and their needs, such that the competencies and outcomes of learners can be assessed and also go on to inform future curricula.

The WHO have published an AMR competency framework for health workers’ education and training on antimicrobial resistance.

The framework illustrates the competencies needed by different healthcare workers to address AMR. By using a competency-based framework, organisations can communicate required and valued behaviours for certain roles. A common understanding of an organisation’s values and expected behaviours can be shared among different healthcare workers. Miller’s pyramid (shown below) illustrates how this style of learning works in a clinical environment where learners need to be able to show others how to perform – and also be able to perform – AMS-relevant clinical tasks.

The WHO competency framework contains a joint vision statement for stakeholders fighting antimicrobial resistance. A statement like this can help promote collaboration among healthcare workers united against AMR, as well as encouraging action by policymakers. Similar statements can be adapted for local settings to help communicate the importance of addressing AMR concerns both in health education and at a national policy level.

“We, the health care workers, accept the responsibility to improve patient care and health outcomes by protecting against the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance for patients and society, now and in the future. We shall achieve this goal by acquiring and maintaining the competencies related to AMR control including through improving leadership, awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes and behavioural change regarding the appropriate prescription, dispensing and use of antimicrobials, and implementing better infection prevention control and diagnostic stewardship.”

Global Antimicrobial Stewardship Partnership Hub

Another resource that may be helpful to you is the Global Antimicrobial Stewardship Partnership Hub (GASPH). This repository curates searchable peer- and non-peer-reviewed resources from across the globe. The hub provides easy reference materials to support healthcare practitioners in all health economies in effectively prescribing antimicrobial medicines.

Further Resources for e-learning

Here are some useful and freely available educational resources available online. This is not an exhaustive list; additional useful resources are available from some websites below.

• Antimicrobial stewardship programmes in health-care facilities in low- to middle-income countries. A WHO practical toolkit: A vital toolkit for starting an AMS programme in LMICs
• WHO course: ‘Antimicrobial Stewardship: A competency-based approach’: WHO AMS course available in several languages.
• BSAC e-book: ‘Antimicrobial stewardship: from principles to practice’: Comprehensive AMS handbook
• BSAC Infection Learning Hub: E-learning AMS repository
• BSAC Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (JAC-AMR): Includes an e-learning platform to access peer-reviewed global educational resources
• BSAC JAC-AMR e-learning repository: Weblinks to a global range of peer and non-peer-reviewed AMR and stewardship educational resources
• CDC’s AMS training course: AMS training modules
• ReAct (Action on Antibiotic Resistance) toolbox: AMS resources
• South African Antibiotic Stewardship Programme (SAASP) AMS resources: Useful weblinks available via this website
• University of Minnisota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP): AMS resources including educational posters
• How to start an antimicrobial stewardship programme in a hospital: Paper about starting a hospital AMS programme which also contains many useful weblinks