Last week, drive-AMS organised a Training of Trainers Course in Nijmegen, hosted by Radboudumc. The course combined their Dutch AMS Masterclass and the Global-PPS tool and expertise. The future trainers were taught how to guide professionals and policy makers through developing and implementing a successful Antimicrobial Stewardship Program in their hospital, healthcare system, region or even country. 

The four-day event resulted in a great mix of knowledge transfer and community building. It was the perfect opportunity to connect, collaborate and exchange ideas! “Since 2019, the Dutch AMS Masterclass has already been taught to over 300 healthcare providers from more than 20 countries,” says Jeroen Schouten, AMS program lead at Radboudumc, ESCMID ESGAP Chair and drive-AMS coordinator. “The experience has told us that training in implementation science and behavioural change are essential for successful implementation of any antimicrobial stewardship program, and that procuring data on institutional prescribing patterns is the first step to change (prescribing) behaviour. Starting this year, with support from the European Commission, we’ve expanded the program to include measurement as the first and last step of making and measuring the desired change. Radboudumc and University of Antwerp together with our partners from Greece, Lithuania, Portugal and Romania will try to showcase that behaviour change can make a significant difference in moving the needle in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.” 

“I liked the structural approach to AMS brought into practice during the course, working on your own project while being taught to teach.” – ToT course participant

“We learned about the COM-B model for behaviour change, which aligns very well with Global-PPS. Global-PPS gives participants the Opportunity to build AMS Capacity and grow their Motivation to tackle AMR. All three are necessary for a behavioural change towards AMR and engagement in the drive-AMS project.” – Ann Versporten, Senior Expert drive-AMS & Global-PPS Coordinator, University of Antwerp

“An intensive, but very hands-on program about behaviour change in use of antibiotics; workshops made me understand better how to identify a problem and to search for solutions.” – ToT course participant