Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Agree team CPD priorities in your practice around antibiotic use and AMR, for example dermatology, cytology, and you may consider benchmarking to measure and track change.
- Scottish Government and SRUC Veterinary Services have produced an online CPD module to support BVD (Bovine Viral Diarrhoea) control and eradication. Vets working in Scotland (and practices with Scottish clients) can access the module free of charge.
- Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) offer CPD courses and online talks to support vets on cattle, sheep, pig and poultry health matters. These may require registration and are charged for.
Resources
RCVS Knowledge AMR Hub
- Together with the major UK specialised veterinary and agriculture organisations, the Farm Vet Champions initiative provides a free online learning platform, to establish a concerted approach towards good antimicrobial stewardship in practices and on farms.
- VetTeamAMR champions the responsible use of antimicrobials within companion animal, farm animal, and equine veterinary teams, including audit and benchmarking tools, free online education and a means for veterinary teams to network and share lessons on a national scale
Small Animal Surveillance Network
Series of webinars by SAVSNET, the Small Animal Surveillance Network, an initiative between BSAVA and the University of Liverpool, providing information about antimicrobials, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and what you can do to enact effective ‘antimicrobial stewardship’ in your companion animal practice.
Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA)
- RUMA provides information about antibiotics & UK farming, including news, facts, statistics, science and reports, case studies and videos.
- RUMA Companion Animal and Equine Alliance will draw on the success and learnings of UK farm animal sectors in responsible antimicrobial use to help protect important medicines for future human and animal use. The initiative aims for the UK to lead the way in the companion animal and equine sectors through evidence-based and measurable activities that will promote and enhance stewardship
Benchmarking
Many countries have set up, are in the early stages of setting up or are planning to set up systems for monitoring AMU data at farm level in all or selected food producing animal species. In countries where such systems have been established, the collected data have been shown to be powerful tools for antibiotic stewardship, e.g., stimulating a reduced and more responsible AMU through communication of benchmarking results of farmers' and veterinarians' AMU.
UK practices can send data to:
- researchers at SAVSNET, to receive a free benchmark, comparing their antibiotic prescription to other anonymised practices across the country, using the mySAVSNET AMR tool
- VetCompass which is a surveillance programme at the Royal Veterinary College for the practice-based study of companion animal and equine health and disease, where information is used for epidemiological research to fill knowledge gaps in veterinary medicine
The network on quantification of veterinary Antimicrobial usage at herd level and Analysis, CommunicaTion and benchmarking to improve responsible usage (AACTING Project) has developed guidelines for Europe providing practical advice on setting up systems for collection of AMU data at farm level to guide antimicrobial stewardship.
Clients