ASP Qualitative Evaluation

Purpose of the study

EU-JAMRAI is conducting a qualitative study on attitudes towards core elements of antimicrobial stewardship programmes, and the identification of success stories and barriers of stewardship implementation at different levels of healthcare. We are seeking to explore more deeply the experiences of implementation by professionals at national, hospital, long-term care and primary care level.

The primary objectives of the study are:

• Exploring the extent to which the participating countries have knowledge about and use the “core elements for antimicrobial stewardship” at the different levels of care.
• Identifying the most appropriate core elements in antimicrobial stewardship programmes.
• Identifying success stories/enablers as well as unsuccessful stories/barriers for stewardship implementation.
• Facilitating the championing of success stories in antimicrobial stewardship across Europe.

Methodology

Ten European countries are involved in the study. Partners and NAP’s will interview public health professionals, policy makers, health care providers, or other key stakeholder involved in efforts to improve antimicrobial stewardship.

The interviews will be performed as:

• Focus groups.
• In-depth interviews.

To ensure that all levels of care are included, four categories have been established: national, hospital, primary care (GP clinics) and long-term care facilities.

What will be the outcome?

This work will provide direct feedback to 10 countries and a common European document with new recommendations for better stewardship programmes implementation. All reports will be available the 31st of July 2020.

How will it be disseminated?

Country reports will be disseminated at local level by national focal points. Local conferences or events will be organized to give visibility to the key recommendations and share the reports with key actors working in AMR in different levels of healthcare.

EU report will be disseminated through:

• EU-JAMRAI channels. These include social media channels where key recommendations will be disseminated through a campaign based on info-graphics.
• EU-JAMRAI final dissemination conference. To be attended by all EU-JAMRAI partners and stakeholders.
• EU professional associations. The report will be shared with EU-JAMRAI Stakeholders Forum integrated not only by professional associations but also by international organizations such as ECDC, WHO, EMA and OECD.
• Scientific societies.

Bibliography for interview respondents

EU-JAMRAI has selected the following articles on core elements. We recommend to the interview respondents reading the documents that apply to their level of healthcare before the interviews:

• Developing core elements and checklist items for global hospital antimicrobial stewardship programmes: a consensus approach - Clinical Microbiology and Infection (CMI - ESCMID).
• Report on the modified Delphi process for common structure and process indicators for hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs - Transatlantic Taskforce on Antimicrobial Resistance (TATFAR).
• The Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• The Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship for Nursing Homes - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• ASP in healthcare facilities in low and middle-income countries; a WHO practical toolkit - World Health Organization (WHO).