Antibiotic Awareness Week November 2017

WORLD ANTIBIOTIC AWARENESS WEEK 2017

WHO declared the week from 13th to 19th November 2017 as the World Antibiotic Awareness week. SLCM repeatedly reminded the membership on this important event and posters in all three languages relevant to this event were distributed among Consultant Microbiologists and Acting Consultant Microbiologists to display in their respective hospitals.

Base Hospital Akkareipattu

 

 

 

 

 

District General Hospital Amapara

District General Hospital Negombo

Independent Medical Practitioners Association (IMPA)

Meanwhile, in response to the request made by the President SLCM, to give a time to update members of Independent Medical Practitioners Association (IMPA) on AMR as an activity for Antibiotic Awareness week 2017, the IMPA invited SLCM to partner with IMPA at their medical update programme which was held on Sunday 17th December 2017 from 7.30pm – 9.00pm at the OPA Auditorium. The topic was ‘An update on Antibiotic Resistance’

Following were the Subtopics

  1. Introduction to antimicrobial resistance- by Dilini Nakkawita, Consultant Microbiologist DGH Vauniya
  2. National Action Plan for Anti – Microbial Resistance and the Way Forward- by Dr Kumudu Karunaratne ,Consultant Microbiologist Lady Ridge way Hospital, Colombo 8
  3. Primary Care Physician’s role in combating AMR- Dr Rohini Wadanamby, Consultant Microbiologist Lanka Hospitals. Colombo 5

National Hospital Sri Lanka

The National Hospital of Sri Lanka commemorated the World Antibiotic Awareness Week from 13 – 19 November 2017 with a series of activities to raise awareness among general public and healthcare workers. The activities included awareness programme to Out Patient Department ( OPD) patients, quiz competition to medical officers from ICUs, preparation and displaying the Sinhala translations of WHO antibiotic awareness posters 2017 and another poster on rational use of antibiotics in relevant sections of the hospital, distribution of antibiotic awareness leaflet in Sinhala among OPD patients and healthcare workers.  During the above activities a great emphasis was given to the theme this year “seek advice from a qualified health professional before taking antibiotics” .

The department of microbiology and infection control with the assistance from the department of pharmacy carried out awareness programmes to patients attending to the OPD on 15th and 16th November 2017. The important aspects highlighted were the antibiotic resistance, preserving the effectiveness of antibiotics for future generations, importance of not demanding antibiotics from prescribers, following doctor’s advice and never sharing antibiotics, problem of drying pipeline of antibiotics and importance of appropriate use of antibiotics and infection prevention and control with emphasis on hand hygiene.  We further emphasized the fact that misuse of antibiotics puts all of us at risk and also taking antibiotics unnecessarily speeds up antibiotic resistance, making infections more difficult and expensive to treat.

Video clip of a role play prepared at NHSL in two languages namely Sinhala and Tamil with the assistance from the hospital bioinformatics unit which suits the Sri Lankan set up was used for the OPD awareness. Senior registrars, registrars and medical officers in medical microbiology unit acted in the debates which were included in the video clip. This made the event extremely interesting because real problems encountered in the community regarding antibiotics were highlighted. The take home messages of antibiotic use in relation to the public were highlighted by the consultant microbiologist and the senior registrars at the end. Infection control nursing officers made the patients aware about the importance of hand hygiene and demonstrated the technique to them. An educational leaflet in Sinhala was distributed to the patients and there was great enthusiasm from patients to get more information from the medical staff. A number of questions about use of antibiotics were directed to the registrars and senior registrars from patients while distributing them.

The infection control nursing officers took the burden of decorating the background of the event in the OPD with items which were made by themselves amidst limited facilities in the setting to make the event more attractive. The senior medical laboratory technologist and the support staff of the department of microbiology supported immensely in arranging the venue at the OPD at the time of the awareness programme.

A poster highlighting the rational use of antibiotics prepared by the intern pharmacists at NHSL too was displayed at the OPD during the awareness programme. A power point presentation made by the intern pharmacists under the guidance of the consultant microbiologist was displayed in the TV screen of the OPD.

During the week the senior registrars performed an antibiotic quiz competition in medical ICU, surgical ICU and all four neurotrauma ICUs in the hospital using a question paper prepared by the senior registrars under the supervision of the consultant microbiologist. The three highest scorers were presented prizes as an encouragement and appreciating their contribution.

The WHO Antibiotic Awareness Week 2017 posters were translated into Sinhala by one of the medical officers from the department of microbiology with the guidance of the consultant microbiologist. Printed posters were distributed to the relevant departments of the hospital with the idea that this would improve the knowledge, attitudes and practices of patients and healthcare workers when using antibiotics.

Overall, this was a very successful programme which became a reality due to the tireless effort, dedication, commitment and team work of the members of the department of microbiology and infection control and the great support extended by the all medical, nursing and other staff members of the hospital.

 

 

 

 

 

Neville Fernando Teaching Hospita and South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine

Sri Jayewardenapura General Hospital

Awareness programmes were conducted on the appropriate use of antibiotics mainly targeting public at Sri Jayewardenapura General Hospital. Posters in English, Sinhala and Tamil were displayed on notice boards. Awareness talks on antibiotic resistance were done by the Health Education Unit in outpatient department and clinic area. A street drama was produced and acted by the hospital staff during the visiting hours to increase the awareness of the public on antibiotic resistance.

 

Posted in 2017