2019

This is an Entry to the Government Best Practice Recognition Awards

Title

Anti-Microbial Stewardship (AMS) Awareness Outreach Program

Organization

Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee (AMSCOM)

Best practice Focus Area(s)

Leadership, Human Resource, CSR, Strategy

Summary

The CLMMRH Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) Committee was organized to address the emerging problem of global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the hospital level.

The AMS Awareness Outreach Program is the answer to the committee to promote the stewardship culture beyond the bounds of the hospital. The program is an off-shoot of educational awareness practices recommended in its Core Elements.

It has included educating not only hospital personnel (doctors, PGis and clinical clerks, nurses, pharmacists) but also patients (admitted and out-patient). Reaching out to the community and the younger generation is an aim the committee focuses on to make antimicrobial stewardship a way of life for most.

Background and Problem

The main objective of the program is to increase awareness of the threat of increasing resistance of bacteria to antimicrobials and promote preventive practices that are feasible and can be connected with day-to-day life.

As the usual antimicrobial stewardship program focuses on the hospital environment where there is the highest use for antibiotics, it is also important that it should start at home.

The usual challenge for the committee is its logistical needs as most of the Team Members doing the outreach are full-time employees of the hospital doing regular duties and responsibilities. Although not costly, doing community awareness programs entails a financial burden for transportation, food, and audiovisual aids.

Plans to extend such educational programs to larger schools in Bacolod City and the rest of the Negros Occidental Province, as well as training rural health personnel to increase AMS and AMR awareness are already being proposed.

Solution and Impact

The success of AMS in the community and at home entails educational awareness. The Awareness Program can be expanded by training more localized health care workers so they can extend this knowledge to the community. Inclusion of Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship Practices in schools can help change the mindset of the younger generation towards their personal health and the community’s wellbeing. Encouraging broadcast and social media exposure which are the main source of information in the current age can help raise awareness even further.

Starting small but with a bigger goal in mind, the CLMMRH AMS Committee hopes it can make its mark to increase AMR awareness and how AMS can have a big impact on the health and daily lives of the future generation. The AMSCOM emphasizes that AMS is not only a knowledge for healthcare personnel to practice but for the general public to learn. Judicious use of antibiotics and preservation of its efficiency for future generations is a responsibility that all Filipino citizens should inculcate as basic knowledge.

Milestones

 Organized for DOH the very first Antimicrobial Stewardship Training for select Level 3 Hospitals in the country, done Level III Hospitals (2017), Level II Hospitals (2018, 2019) and will conduct Level I Hospital Trainings (2019)

  • Conducted intrahospital AMS Training for Residents (2018, 2019), Nurses and Pharmacists (2018, 2019) and Postgraduate Interns and Clerks (2018, 2019)
  • AMS Awareness Outreach for Senior High Schools and Barangays in Negros Occidental (La Carlota City, Don Salvador Benedicto, Cadiz City)
  • Awards/Citations/Invitations:
    1. Best in AMS Practice (2017 Philippine Hospital Association)
    2. Representative of the country and WPR in the WHO Meeting on Antimicrobial Stewardship for Low-Middle Income Countries in Geneva, Switzerland (June 2018)
    3. Speaker, 2nd National AMR Summit, Manila (November 2018)

Future plans:

  • AMS Awareness Training for Bacolod City Healthcare Personnel and Midwives
  • Multimedia AMS Campaigns via radio broadcasting, the internet, and posters in high-exposure areas
  • Two (2) more Outreach Activities in the southern portion of Negros, and 
  • Continued intrahospital orientations for healthcare personnel and patients