Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract.
LI, low-income countries; LMIC, low- and middle-income countries; HMI, high- and middle-income countries; HIC, high-income countries.
Resource web link: https://www.rcgp.org.uk/clinical-and-research/resources/toolkits/amr/target-antibiotics-toolkit.aspx (Full classification scheme available at: http://bsac.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Educational-resource-review-classification-scheme.pdf)
WHO region and country (World Bank): European Region, England (HIC)
Peer review commentary
TARGET was developed by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) aiming at better antibiotic prescribing. It was designed to be used by the whole primary care team in a flexible way.
TARGET is more than a resource; it is actually a repository of several resources. It will take time to view all the resources available and one can easily spend an entire day just navigating through the content. It is divided in nine sections, and in this review I will focus on the first seven because the other two are more devoted to training and how to be an official TARGET trainer.
The first section is called Guides, Updates and News and contains a very comprehensive quarterly newsletter, but unfortunately the last available is from July 2019. The second section is called UTI Resource Suite and is entirely devoted to urinary tract infections. There are materials for patients, training resources for professionals, audit templates and very useful flowcharts to help diagnosis. In the third section you will find leaflets to share with patients. These leaflets are very informative and try to deliver correct messages around antimicrobial use. It is very probable, whatever your location is, that the leaflet is translated to your language (there are at least 25 languages represented). The fourth section is complimentary to the latter one because it has resources for clinical and waiting areas. Both posters and videos are available to use. The fifth section is a must for everyone that works in areas devoted to improving antibiotic prescribing. In this section there are a collection of audit tools (including a spreadsheet that will make the sometimes difficult math easier), a checklist for self-assessment and tools for action planning. All these resources are fundamental to implementing good interventions and it is sometimes difficult to find tools as good as these ones freely available. The sixth section collects a large number of quick reference tools for diagnostics and antibiotic use, most of them coming from NICE but there is also content developed by the RCGP and its partners. The seventh section contains training resources like the seven webinars specifically made for this resource, but also very interesting case scenarios of some of the most common causes of antibiotic use. There are also links for other resources developed by other organizations and to the RCGP e-learning modules. The latter are not free and being a registered member is required to access them.
Overall, this is a vast repository of very good tools to use in primary care with the aim of improving antibiotic prescribing. The contents are scientifically flawless and transmit the correct messages both for healthcare professionals and to the general public. Some of the content is not updated but this is understandable owing to the dimension of the task of updating all the content. It is certainly a must-visit website for those already in the field and for all those who want to improve prescribing in primary care.