By Gabriel Levy Hara (Chair), Jim Hutchinson (Chair) and Ian Gould (Honorary Secretary), ISC Antimicrobial Stewardship Working Group
Sometimes problems are so large and so complex that it is hard to conceive a good starting point to address them. Antimicrobial resistance certainly fits this description. Despite innumerable examples of current disaster, it is difficult for even award winning journalists to describe them, as lamented Margie Mason and Martha Mendoza in a recent edition of this column. Despite this, there are thousands of efforts to improve antimicrobial use being made all over the planet and thousands more efforts that would be made if given the opportunity. These people need a place to describe their efforts, be recognized for them and find support to continue and expand them.
The International Society of Chemotherapy’s (ISC) new Antimicrobial Stewardship Working Group recently inaugurated a project to create an inventory of antimicrobial stewardship (AS) initiatives that anyone—at any level and anywhere—can access. Utilizing a Web 2.0 open-source content management system to collect and display projects, we hope to facilitate connections among those interested in antimicrobial resistance.
We have already received 17 entries from countries in North America, Central America, South America, Europe (western and eastern), Asia, Africa and Australia, and are also in the process of creating a world map, where anyone will be able to peruse interventions by clicking on specific countries or regions. We invite you to take a look at what others are doing in this field and tell us about your efforts .
In addition to the registry and map, the Website will host a forum, where anyone involved in AS projects will have the opportunity to discuss strategies and potential solutions. We believe that this will be of great benefit to colleagues of all specialities (physicians, pharmacists, microbiologists and administrators) and anticipate launching the forum by August of this year.
Lastly, the Website and associated group of people and efforts will be used as a platform to further the Antimicrobial Stewardship Working Group initiatives. These might include:
- Distance learning courses to address general and locally relevant problems (for example, rational management of urinary tract infections (URI), principles of AS programs and frequent problems regarding antimicrobial use in the elderly)
- Comparative evaluations of antimicrobial consumption in all five continents
A community borne of the commonality of individual efforts to address a distinctly difficult problem that has no racial, cultural, geographical, national or even species boundaries has the potential to be very synergistic. While local issues always vary, common themes run steadfastly throughout: antimicrobials are a world resource; market forces alone will not result in optimal (or even good) distribution necessitating some form of regulation; measurement and reporting of use is essential; education at all levels for all time is needed. This is a “forever” problem that requires “forever” solutions.
We hope that an idea as simple as bringing together the people that are already extremely motivated to address this critical issue will lead to great things. All of you are very welcome. Please, don’t hesitate to contact us!
Jim Hutchinson (Canada), [email protected]
Gabriel Levy Hara (Argentina), [email protected]
Ian M Gould (Scotland), [email protected]