AMR EDUCare, A New EU-Wide Project to Train Over 4,000 Health Professionals on Antimicrobial Resistance

The AMR EDUCare project, funded by EU4Health, was launched in Brussels with the goal of providing training to over 4,000 healthcare professionals across the European Union on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The project will develop training materials for health professionals in several countries including Italy, Spain, Hungary, Portugal, Lithuania, Greece, and Hungary. The overall objective is to reduce the spread of and exposure to AMR, given the urgent need to tackle the exponential growth of bacteria that are resistant to available antibiotic treatments.

A consortium of organisations from southern and eastern Europe will work together to provide accessible information and a state-of-the-art analysis of the context in each of the countries in these regions that are most affected by the issue of AMR.

Comprehensive training on antimicrobial resistance

"Raising awareness among the general population on the rational use of antibiotics is a crucial action that should be taken in the framework of the National Plans to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance," said Jordi Vila, Research Professor and Director of the Antimicrobial Resistance Initiative and Co-Director of the Viral and Bacterial Infections Programme at ISGlobal.

The project aims to increase medical doctors' knowledge of prescribing antibiotics and improve their communication skills to manage patients' expectations of receiving medication. It will also educate health management professionals on processes and techniques to reduce and better manage antimicrobial waste.

ISGlobal's Antimicrobial Resistance Team, led by Jordi Vila, Elisabet Guiral, and Marina Tarrús, will coordinate the development of a specific training module for community pharmacists, physicians, family doctors, and nurses who have a strong influence on patients' antibiotic consumption patterns. "This module will provide scientific and medical information through comprehensive training to healthcare professionals (especially primary healthcare workers) on the communication skills needed to effectively educate patients on the appropriate use of antibiotics, as well as create a network to share best practices among healthcare professionals," explained Elisabet Guiral, coordinator of ISGlobal's Antimicrobial Resistance Initiative.

All training materials will be made available to health professionals as online courses and will also be used in continuing education programmes across Europe.