An Online Antimicrobial Stewardship Course for Primary Healthcare Practitioners, Stand-alone and Small Healthcare facilities
An Online Antimicrobial Stewardship Course for Primary Healthcare Practitioners, Stand-alone and Small Healthcare facilities
An Online Antimicrobial Stewardship Course for Primary Healthcare Practitioners, Stand-alone and Small Healthcare facilities
OverviewEvery prescription is an opportunity for stewardship.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most important challenges facing healthcare today. Yet much of antimicrobial stewardship training has traditionally focused on hospital settings.
This course brings antimicrobial stewardship closer to where a large proportion of prescribing decisions are actually made — primary healthcare and outpatient practice.
Developed by experts from leading healthcare institutions across India, the course translates the principles of antimicrobial stewardship into practical, contextual and clinically relevant learning.
Participants progress from understanding antimicrobial resistance and rational antimicrobial therapy to applying stewardship principles in common clinical situations, using diagnostics appropriately, evaluating antimicrobial use and implementing stewardship activities within their own healthcare settings with case-based discussions.
The course is fully online and self-paced, allowing healthcare professionals to learn at their convenience.
COURSE LEADERSHIP
COURSE EXPERTS
By the end of the course, participants will be better equipped to:
- Understand antimicrobial resistance and its implications for clinical practice.
- Recognise rational and irrational antimicrobial prescribing practices.
- Decide when to prescribe — and when not to prescribe — an antimicrobial.
- Select antimicrobials considering clinical indication, patient factors, guidelines, essential medicines and the AWaRe framework.
- Apply principles of empiric, prophylactic and definitive antimicrobial therapy.
- Make informed decisions about antimicrobial dose and duration.
- Use cultures, antibiograms, biomarkers and other diagnostic information appropriately.
- Apply evidence-based approaches to common infections encountered in outpatient practice.
- Understand audit, feedback and antimicrobial-consumption metrics.
- Initiate and evaluate antimicrobial stewardship activities in their own healthcare setting.
- Integrate infection prevention, diagnostic stewardship and antimicrobial stewardship into everyday patient care.
Learning Block 01 — Understanding Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Burden & Antimicrobial Stewardship
Begin with the foundations. Understand antimicrobial resistance, its drivers and consequences, national and global stewardship strategies, prescribing patterns and the realities influencing antimicrobial use in primary healthcare.
Learning Block 02 — Towards Rational Antimicrobial Therapy
Move from awareness to better prescribing decisions. Learn the principles behind appropriate antimicrobial selection and use, including AWaRe classification, empiric and definitive therapy, surgical prophylaxis, dose and duration, fixed-dose combinations and antibiograms.
The central question: Does this patient need an antimicrobial — and if yes, which one, at what dose and for how long?
Learning Block 03 — Rational Antimicrobial Use in Clinical Practice
Apply the principles to patients you see every day. Explore practical approaches to common outpatient infections and clinical syndromes through case-based learning.
Topics include: Acute Febrile Illness • Respiratory Tract Infections • Gastrointestinal & Intra-abdominal Infections • Skin & Soft Tissue Infections • Ocular Infections • Urinary Tract Infections • ENT Infections • Dental/Gynaecological Infections • Safe Injection Practices
The emphasis is on practical decision-making and appropriate antimicrobial use, including situations where diagnostic resources may be limited.
Learning Block 04 — Implementing & Evaluating Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes
Turn individual knowledge into organisational change. Learn how to measure antimicrobial use, assess prescription quality and introduce stewardship interventions appropriate to your healthcare setting.
Explore: Stewardship Metrics • Antimicrobial Consumption • Prescription Quality • Digital Tools • Benchmarking • Audit & Feedback • Stewardship Champions
Learning Block 05 — Integrating Infection Prevention, Diagnostics & Antimicrobial Stewardship
Bring the three pillars together. Explore how responsible diagnostics, infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship work together to improve patient care and reduce unnecessary antimicrobial use.
No prior antimicrobial stewardship experience is required. The course is suitable for practising healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other prescribers) as well as medical, nursing and pharmacy students preparing for clinical practice.
A device with an internet connection is all that is needed — the course is fully online and self-paced.
COURSE FACULTY
Thank you to our faculty for sharing their expertise, time and commitment to responsible antimicrobial use.