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OUH working globally to tackle antimicrobial resistance

07/03/2024
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) recently hosted staff from Kilifi County Referral Hospital (KCRH) in Kenya as part of the Oxford and Kilifi Strengthening Antimicrobial Stewardship project (OKSAMS).

Antibiotic stewardship is an organisational or healthcare-system-wide approach to promoting and monitoring use of antimicrobials to preserve their future effectiveness. The aim of this trip was to help teams from both KCRH and OUH to identify areas of work and facilitate mutual learning that would improve antimicrobial stewardship in both Oxford and Kenya. 

OKSAMS is made up of clinicians, pharmacists, nurses, and data analysists from OUH and KCRH. The KCRH team were welcomed by Dr Andrew Brent, our Chief Medical Officer and Bhulesh Vadher, our Clinical Director of Pharmacy and Sterile Services, who thanked OUH's Antimicrobial Stewardship team and Kenyan colleagues for all their work to improve antimicrobial stewardship for the benefit of our patients.

The visiting team included Mevin Shahada (Clinical Pharmacist), Elizabeth Gathua (Lead Pharmacist), Mariam Salim (Nurse and infection prevention and control link), and Dr Nadia Aliyan (Acute General Medicine Consultant, and Chair of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee in KCRH).

In September 2023, KCRH kindly hosted staff members from OUH including Bee Yean Ng (AMS Pharmacist), Dr Monique Andersson (Infection Consultant), and Teig Parsons (Data Analysist).

During their respective visits, both teams had the opportunity to meet with the hosting hospital management, visit the local and regional laboratory, shadow clinical ward rounds, and understand the local need, structure, and resources available, including the systems used and antimicrobial guidelines followed.

Oxford and Kilifi Strengthen Antimicrobial Stewardship

OKSAMS is one of the 24 grantees of Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) announced in March of 2023 – a two-year health partnership programme funded by the Department of Health and Social Care's Fleming Fund. The programme started in April 2023, and is due to run until December 2024.

CwPAMS is managed by the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA), a professional body for national pharmacy associations in Commonwealth countries and the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET), an international Non-Government Organisation with expertise in delivering global health partnerships.

The programme aims to tackle the rising mortality and morbidity associated with increasing antimicrobial resistance by improving antimicrobial stewardship.

Bee Yean Ng, one of our specialist pharmacists and the lead partner for OKSAMS from our OUH AMS team, said: "Our team was delighted to host our KCRH colleagues. We all learned a lot from each other, and I have no doubt we will continue to do so through the OKSAMS partnership.

"We are one year into the programme, and the OKSAMS team have already implemented some tailored AMS interventions which we will continue to measure in terms of impact. We're currently analysing our findings from the visit in preparation of proposed activities, including a face-to-face AMS activity in KCRH in June. This will ultimately strengthen antimicrobial stewardship and benefit all of our patients."

Dr Andrew Brent, Chief Medical Officer at OUH, said: "I have previously worked in Kenya and I was delighted to meet colleagues from Kilifi Hospital when they visited the OUH. It is great that with support from THET, members of the Antimicrobial Stewardship team at OUH are supporting Kilifi Hospital to develop an antimicrobial stewardship programme that might in time be an exemplar for other hospitals in Africa."

Dr Nadia Aliyan, the lead partner for OKSAMS from KCRH, said: "Our exchange visits with OUH allowed our teams to learn from each other, particularly around how to create robust systems and test existing frameworks. The Oxford team has made great strides towards aligning awareness of AMS, and further collaborations are beginning to take shape within this partnership. This joint venture is anticipated to change the landscape of antibiotic usage in the long term."

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