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: http://bsac.org.uk/meetings/2016-roundtable-series-moving-the-battle-against-amr-forward-the-fiscal-and-educational-challenges/ (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, UK (HIC)
Peer review commentary
The resource reviewed here is formed by a set of recorded lectures and respective PowerPoints and refers to a meeting held in 2016 with the overall subject ‘Moving the battle against AMR forward: the fiscal and educational challenges’. All the materials available work correctly and both the videos and the PowerPoint files have good technical quality. The lectures are, at least most of them, engaging and interesting. However, the depth of each of them is highly variable, making the resource somewhat heterogeneous.
The first lecture gives a good picture of the antimicrobial prescribing landscape and the addresses the complex aspects of increasing consumption but also the need to counterbalance policies to reduce use with the issues of lack of access in some parts of the globe; on the negative side, the data provided is outdated. The second lecture addresses the difficulties that arise when trying to define responsible antimicrobial use and describes the DRIVE-AB initiative. The third lecture deals with the difficulties of measuring consumption and it gives fundamental information about the topic but the content has interest mostly for stewards. The fourth lecture presents the work of a company and the main interest of it is to see how new technologies, machine learning and artificial intelligence can change the antimicrobial stewardship scenario. The fifth lecture is very specific and analyses the calculations available to predict resistance impact in the future. The sixth lecture describes the experience of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and tries to address some of the issues that arise with this type of tool. The seventh lecture addresses the role of nurses in antimicrobial stewardship but it is not very informative. The last lecture addresses the topic of general public education and shares the experience of PHE and, although interesting, does not give clear clues regarding how to address this topic in other settings, particularly in those where the resources may be lacking.
Globally the lectures are very interesting, particularly for people involved in antimicrobial stewardship activities but it is somewhat disappointing that the challenges promised in the roundtable’s overall subject are not addressed extensively. Education challenges are addressed but little time is devoted to analysing future challenges and how to overcome them, and the fiscal issues are not discussed in depth.