Course: How to set up an Antimicrobial Stewardship Programme

So, now you understand what AMS is: “a coherent set of actions which promote the responsible use of antimicrobials.” But how do we know what actions we should be taking? …

There are many drivers for AMR. However, the most significant drivers are human and animal antimicrobial misuse and overuse, as shown in the image below. Click here to see a …

In this step, we will explore the types of AMS interventions available. AMS interventions are the activities or structures and processes that are put into place to change and optimize …

When building your AMS action plan, it is essential to be clear about the difference between guidelines and policies. The terms policy and guidelines are used interchangeably, though they mean …

It is important to understand how your microbiology laboratory can support AMS. This section will address what role the microbiology laboratory plays in antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). The approach to AMS, …

Predicting when an infecting organism is likely to be resistant is a challenge when deciding on the choice of antibiotic to treat an infection. In this video, we explore how …

Before this, you will have done the welcome to week 2 and the AMS structures step. This week we will introduce you to the foundations of an AMS programme (ASP). …

Congratulations on completing this course on setting up an antimicrobial stewardship programme! On completion of this course, you should be able to: Investigate the drivers of antimicrobial resistance and understand …

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 this activity, we will look at STEP 5 of setting up an AMS programme – education and training. This step involves: Understanding the core AMS healthcare professional education and …

AMS interventions can be monitored in various ways, including by quantity, structural measures, processes and patient outcomes. We have already looked at some quantitative measures (DDD and DOT), but sometimes …

In this next section we will be looking the most commonly used tool to quantitatively measure the efficacy of an AMS programme – defined daily doses (DDDs). In step 3.4, …

Welcome to Week 3. This week we discuss how to monitor and evaluate your AMS programme. We will examine why measurement is vital in an AMS programme. We will also …

We have already looked at several implementation strategies for AMS. In this step, we will focus on another strategy – Tailoring Antimicrobial Resistance Programmes (TAP). TAP is a new methodology …

Thank you for your participation in the second week of this course on setting up AMS stewardship programmes. We have now covered how to: Build an effective AMS team Utilise …