- Email: [email protected]
e-learning for global antimicrobial stewardship
Correspondence
programmes to combat antimicrobial resistance and their efforts are undermined by the questionable practices of the pharmaceutical manufacturing units.3 Public availability of information about the origin of APIs and evidence of good manufacturing practice compliance of the manufactured APIs imported by the European Union and the USA can improve transparency. WHO good manufacturing practice guidelines for workplace safety, environmental protection, pollution prevention, and adoption of cleaner production technology should be adopted and enforced consistently for all the countries that are responsible for antimicrobial resistance.2 We declare no competing interests.
*Akram Ahmad, Isha Patel, Muhammad Umair Khan, Zaheer ud-din Babar [email protected] Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, 56000, Malaysia (AA); Department of Pharmacy Practice, Administration and Research, Marshall University School of Pharmacy, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA (IP); Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia (MUK); and Department of Pharmacy, University of Huddersfield, UK (Zu-dB) 1
2
3
4 5
General Assembly of the United Nations. High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance. Sept 21, 2016. http://www.un.org/ pga/71/event-latest/high-level-meeting-onantimicrobial-resistance (accessed Feb 14, 2017). SumOfUs. Bad Medicine: how the pharmaceutical industry is contributing to the global rise of antiobiotic-resistant superbugs. June, 2015. http://changingmarket.wpengine. com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/BADMEDICINE-Report-FINAL.pdf (accessed Feb 19, 2017). Changing Markets, Ecostorm. Superbugs in the supply chain: how pollution from antibiotics factories in India and China is fuelling the global rise of drug-resistant infections. October, 2016. https://epha.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ Superbugsinthesupplychain_CMreport.pdf (accessed Feb 14, 2017). Laxminarayan R, Chaudhury RR. Antibiotic resistance in India: drivers and opportunities for action. PLoS Med 2016; 13: e1001974. R Kaur, SP Wani, AK Singh, K Lal. Wastewater production, treatment and use in India. UN-Water Activity Information System. Second regional workshop of the project Safe Use of Wastewater in Agriculture; New Dehli, India; May 16–18, 2012.
www.thelancet.com/infection Vol 17 June 2017
e-learning for global antimicrobial stewardship In their Correspondence, Elizabeth Robilotti and colleagues1 highlighted the demand and need for open access, globally accessible educational resources for health-care professionals across all health economies, and discussed the resources they offer in response to this need. To support this demand, the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) developed a massive open online course (MOOC) on antimicrobial stewardship in partnership with the University of Dundee, Scotland, UK. Free at the point of access, it has been accessed by almost 33 000 learners in 163 countries since October, 2015. Assessment of its use and impact is highlighted in the appendix. The course empowers health-care professionals to provide safe, high-quality antibiotic use and to assess the effectiveness of using strategies, tools, and interventions in antimicrobial stewardship to drive improvement in their locality and practice. Adding to its global value, the open access course is available in English2 and Mandarin,3 with Spanish and Russian versions planned. Future Learn, the platform host, has partnered directly with BSAC, providing a global learning platform for concise, open access courses for all health-care communities and a market reach of 5·5 million learners worldwide. The first two courses, “Challenges in antibiotic resistance: point prevalence surveys” and “Challenges in antibiotic resistance: Gram-negative bacteria”, opened for registration on March 13, 2017. Early 2018 will see the launch of an e-book on antimicrobial stewardship. The remit is broader and deeper than the MOOC—eg, it encompasses stewardship in the non-hospital setting and in special populations. The value and preference of a range of e-learning tools to augment traditional faceto-face and practice-based learning, termed hybrid learning, has been identified in three large surveys of the stewardship educational needs and
existing activity of Indian, African, and Russian health-care professionals (D Nathwani, unpublished). These surveys were supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Science and Innovation Fund. Lastly, we are members of the Conscience of Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance, 4 established to support implementation of the UN Resolution on Antimicrobial Resistance.5 BSAC is proposed to lead the education subbranch to develop indicators against which to measure the availability, implementation, and success of educational initiatives across the world. We look forward to hearing from other potential partners who would like to work with us in this important venture. We declare no competing interests.
Dilip Nathwani, *Tracey Guise, Mark Gilchrist, on behalf of BSAC [email protected]
See Online for appendix
Academic Health Sciences Partnership in Tayside, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, UK (DN); British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Birmingham B1 3NJ, UK (TG); and Infectious Diseases, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK (MG) 1
2
3
4
5
Robilotti E, Holubar M, Nahrgang S, van de Sande-Bruinsma N, Lo Fo Wong D, Deresinski S. Educating front-line clinicians about antimicrobial resistance. Lancet Infec Dis 2017; 17: 257–58. Future Learn. Antimicrobial stewardship: managing antibiotic resistance. https://www. futurelearn.com/courses/antimicrobialstewardship (accessed April 21, 2017). Future Learn. Antimicrobial stewardship: managing antibiotic resistance (in Mandarin). https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ antimicrobial-stewardship-mandarin (accessed April 21, 2017). Forum on Antibiotics. An alliance to support the UN Resolution on Antimicrobial Resistance. http://www.forumonantibiotics. org/alliance (accessed April 21, 2017). General Assembly of the United Nations. Press release: high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance. Sept 21, 2016. http://www.un.org/pga/71/2016/09/21/pressrelease-hl-meeting-on-antimicrobialresistance/ (accessed April 21, 2017).
For Future Learn see www.futurelearn.com
Staphylococcus aureus in critical care The Article by James Price and colleagues1 describes an important study that explores the role of health579
programmes to combat antimicrobial resistance and their efforts are undermined by the questionable practices of the pharmaceutical manufacturing units.3 Public availability of information about the origin of APIs and evidence of good manufacturing practice compliance of the manufactured APIs imported by the European Union and the USA can improve transparency. WHO good manufacturing practice guidelines for workplace safety, environmental protection, pollution prevention, and adoption of cleaner production technology should be adopted and enforced consistently for all the countries that are responsible for antimicrobial resistance.2 We declare no competing interests.
*Akram Ahmad, Isha Patel, Muhammad Umair Khan, Zaheer ud-din Babar [email protected] Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, 56000, Malaysia (AA); Department of Pharmacy Practice, Administration and Research, Marshall University School of Pharmacy, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA (IP); Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia (MUK); and Department of Pharmacy, University of Huddersfield, UK (Zu-dB) 1
2
3
4 5
General Assembly of the United Nations. High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance. Sept 21, 2016. http://www.un.org/ pga/71/event-latest/high-level-meeting-onantimicrobial-resistance (accessed Feb 14, 2017). SumOfUs. Bad Medicine: how the pharmaceutical industry is contributing to the global rise of antiobiotic-resistant superbugs. June, 2015. http://changingmarket.wpengine. com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/BADMEDICINE-Report-FINAL.pdf (accessed Feb 19, 2017). Changing Markets, Ecostorm. Superbugs in the supply chain: how pollution from antibiotics factories in India and China is fuelling the global rise of drug-resistant infections. October, 2016. https://epha.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ Superbugsinthesupplychain_CMreport.pdf (accessed Feb 14, 2017). Laxminarayan R, Chaudhury RR. Antibiotic resistance in India: drivers and opportunities for action. PLoS Med 2016; 13: e1001974. R Kaur, SP Wani, AK Singh, K Lal. Wastewater production, treatment and use in India. UN-Water Activity Information System. Second regional workshop of the project Safe Use of Wastewater in Agriculture; New Dehli, India; May 16–18, 2012.
www.thelancet.com/infection Vol 17 June 2017
e-learning for global antimicrobial stewardship In their Correspondence, Elizabeth Robilotti and colleagues1 highlighted the demand and need for open access, globally accessible educational resources for health-care professionals across all health economies, and discussed the resources they offer in response to this need. To support this demand, the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) developed a massive open online course (MOOC) on antimicrobial stewardship in partnership with the University of Dundee, Scotland, UK. Free at the point of access, it has been accessed by almost 33 000 learners in 163 countries since October, 2015. Assessment of its use and impact is highlighted in the appendix. The course empowers health-care professionals to provide safe, high-quality antibiotic use and to assess the effectiveness of using strategies, tools, and interventions in antimicrobial stewardship to drive improvement in their locality and practice. Adding to its global value, the open access course is available in English2 and Mandarin,3 with Spanish and Russian versions planned. Future Learn, the platform host, has partnered directly with BSAC, providing a global learning platform for concise, open access courses for all health-care communities and a market reach of 5·5 million learners worldwide. The first two courses, “Challenges in antibiotic resistance: point prevalence surveys” and “Challenges in antibiotic resistance: Gram-negative bacteria”, opened for registration on March 13, 2017. Early 2018 will see the launch of an e-book on antimicrobial stewardship. The remit is broader and deeper than the MOOC—eg, it encompasses stewardship in the non-hospital setting and in special populations. The value and preference of a range of e-learning tools to augment traditional faceto-face and practice-based learning, termed hybrid learning, has been identified in three large surveys of the stewardship educational needs and
existing activity of Indian, African, and Russian health-care professionals (D Nathwani, unpublished). These surveys were supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Science and Innovation Fund. Lastly, we are members of the Conscience of Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance, 4 established to support implementation of the UN Resolution on Antimicrobial Resistance.5 BSAC is proposed to lead the education subbranch to develop indicators against which to measure the availability, implementation, and success of educational initiatives across the world. We look forward to hearing from other potential partners who would like to work with us in this important venture. We declare no competing interests.
Dilip Nathwani, *Tracey Guise, Mark Gilchrist, on behalf of BSAC [email protected]
See Online for appendix
Academic Health Sciences Partnership in Tayside, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, UK (DN); British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Birmingham B1 3NJ, UK (TG); and Infectious Diseases, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK (MG) 1
2
3
4
5
Robilotti E, Holubar M, Nahrgang S, van de Sande-Bruinsma N, Lo Fo Wong D, Deresinski S. Educating front-line clinicians about antimicrobial resistance. Lancet Infec Dis 2017; 17: 257–58. Future Learn. Antimicrobial stewardship: managing antibiotic resistance. https://www. futurelearn.com/courses/antimicrobialstewardship (accessed April 21, 2017). Future Learn. Antimicrobial stewardship: managing antibiotic resistance (in Mandarin). https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ antimicrobial-stewardship-mandarin (accessed April 21, 2017). Forum on Antibiotics. An alliance to support the UN Resolution on Antimicrobial Resistance. http://www.forumonantibiotics. org/alliance (accessed April 21, 2017). General Assembly of the United Nations. Press release: high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance. Sept 21, 2016. http://www.un.org/pga/71/2016/09/21/pressrelease-hl-meeting-on-antimicrobialresistance/ (accessed April 21, 2017).
For Future Learn see www.futurelearn.com
Staphylococcus aureus in critical care The Article by James Price and colleagues1 describes an important study that explores the role of health579