UPDATES
Driving Change: Dr. Birutė Zablockienė’s Role in Antimicrobial Stewardship in Lithuania
Dr. Birutė Zablockienė is part of the core drive-AMS team implementing antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in Lithuania. In this interview, she shares insights into her work on combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the challenges her team faces in ensuring appropriate antimicrobial use across multiple hospital departments.
Interview with Emmanuel Roilides, drive-AMS country lead for Greece
In this interview, Professor Emmanuel Roilides, the country lead for the drive-AMS project in Greece, discusses his commitment to combating antimicrobial resistance. He shares the significant progress made by the Greek drive-AMS network in promoting antibiotic stewardship across hospitals, highlighting the challenges and successes encountered along the way. Professor Roilides also outlines the future goals of expanding the network and gaining broader state recognition to enhance the fight against resistant infections.
drive-AMS recognized in WHO Policy Brief for combatting AMR
We are proud to announce that drive-AMS has been highlighted in the recent policy brief by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, under the section “Boosting implementation of effective strategies to combat AMR.”
Interview with Romanian country lead Prof. Mihaela Lupse
In this interview, Mihaela Lupse, professor in infectious diseases and lead of the Romanian drive-AMS network, sheds light on the situation in her country. She elaborates on the ongoing efforts in fighting AMR and establishing the project in Romania.
AMR challenges in Portuguese hospitals – a story from the field by Dr. Raquel Duro
In this interview, Dr. Raquel Duro, member of the Portuguese drive-AMS team, elaborates on her role within the project, the AMS interventions in her hospital and how AMR has affected patients.
Portuguese drive-AMS network organised second part of in-country course
The second part of the course dedicated to antimicrobial stewardship, integrated into the European drive-AMS project, recently took place.
Insights into the final in-country course in Lithuania
It’s the end of our drive-AMS in-country trainings! From 15 until 18 May, the final course took place in Birštonas, Lithuania, organised by dr. Rolanda Valinteliene from the Institute of Hygiene in Vilnius and her team. The four days included presentations and workshops providing deeper insights into antimicrobial stewardship: basic requirements, objectives, prescribing patterns in Europe, quantity & quality of antimicrobial use, determinants & barriers, behavioural change and more.
Portuguese doctor awarded with project to improve antimicrobial stewardship within the scope of drive-AMS
Dr. Francisco Almeida from the Infection Prevention and Control and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit (UPCIRA) of São João Hospital, in Porto, Portugal, was awarded with the first prize of the AMS Certificate Programme 2022-2024 from ESCMID. He received the award for a project within the scope of drive-AMS, an antimicrobial stewardship project, with European funding, coordinated in Portugal by São João Hospital and involving 7 more national health units.
Driving Antimicrobial Stewardship in Romania: country course recap
From 18 to 21 March, the Romanian drive-AMS team reached a critical milestone as it organized its own in-country training course. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Mihaele Lupse, representatives from 8 Romanian hospitals assembled in Cluj for four days of presentations and discussions on all aspects of effective stewardship programs to optimize antibiotic use.
drive-AMS selected to join the Portuguese Sustainable Health Pact
The European drive-AMS project, which São João leads in Portugal, was selected to integrate the 1st phase of the Sustainable Health Pact (PaSSus) 2030, within the scope of the National Health Plan 2030 (PNS), recently launched and promoted by the portuguese General Directorate for the Health (DGS).
Country lead interview with Dr. Rolanda Valinteliene
In this insightful interview, Dr. Rolanda Valinteliene, Head of the Public Health Technology Centre at the Institute of Hygiene in Vilnius, shares her experiences and challenges in leading efforts against antimicrobial resistance in Lithuania.
Combating AMR in Romania: a story from the field with Roxana Dobrota
In this interview Roxana Dobrota, a member of the Romanian drive-AMS team, shares her insights into her role as clinical pharmacist, the situation around AMR in her country and how this is handled in her hospital.
Empowering AMS: Insights from the Greek drive-AMS Course
Another successful in-country training! The Greek team, led by Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Roilides from the General Hospital of Thessaloniki, organised their drive-AMS course from 22 to 24 February. Around 40 participants from 8 different hospitals took part in the training, including infectious diseases specialists, pharmacists, nurses, microbiologists and paediatricians.
Behavioural change: psychologist Ana Silva Reis explains
Meet Ana Reis, the health psychologist who joined the Portuguese drive-AMS team. Ana elaborates on her approach to behavioural change, a key pillar of effective antimicrobial stewardship programmes.
Portugal in-country course recap
From 24 to 26 January 2024, Portugal hosted the first of four in-country trainings on the implementation of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in hospitals.This successful 3-days course was organised by Dr. José Artur Paiva from the São João University Hospital and 14 faculty members from Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. Central throughout this training was inserting implementation science in hospital AMS programs.
Global-PPS inpatient online training
Global-PPS is organising an online training on Thursday 18 January, which will be focussed on their inpatient methodology.
One year of drive-AMS
One year ago, the drive-AMS project was established. In this brief overview, we present the most significant milestones that have been reached in the course of its first year.
Tackling antimicrobial resistance in Greece: Dr. Elias Iosifidis explains
In this interview, Dr. Elias Iosifidis, member of the drive-AMS team in Greece, sheds his light on the daily challenges faced, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts in the battle against AMR.
drive-AMS WAAW 2023
World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) is celebrated annually from 18 to 24 November. Dedicated to raising awareness about global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and promoting best practices, this event provides an excellent opportunity to showcase drive-AMS's unique approach to enhancing appropriate antimicrobial prescribing through the implementation of sustainable antimicrobial stewardship programs.
Interview with Dr. Paiva, drive-AMS lead in Portugal
Dr. José-Artur Paiva is director of the Intensive Care Medicine Department at the Centro Hospitalar Universitário Sao Joao in Portugal. In this interview, he covers critical insights into the fight against antimicrobial resistance and the instrumental role of the drive-AMS project. Dr. Paiva's experiences and future plans underscore the importance of collaborative efforts and proactive strategies in combating this global health challenge.
Interview with drive-AMS project lead Jeroen Schouten
Read our interview with Dr. Jeroen Schouten, intensivist at Radboud University Medical Center and project lead of drive-AMS. Jeroen discusses the work that has been done during the first months of the project, essential lessons learned and his future goals for drive-AMS.
drive-AMS partners moving towards implementation
On 6 June 2023, country leads of the drive-AMS partner institutions held an online meeting to discuss the progress of the project and any challenges faced during the first 6 months of implementation.
First drive-AMS event
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.
Launch of drive-AMS
On the 1st of November 2022, Radboud University Medical Centre (Radboudumc) and University of Antwerp joined forces to launch drive-AMS, a new project funded under the EU4Health Programme. This project aims to intensify antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes across the European Union by improving prudent antimicrobial use (AMU) and strengthening AMU surveillance, which are both key priorities of the EU One Health Action Plan on AMR.