1. Project Overview
Innovative, effective training and skills building are vital to the success of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes, particularly when staff are new to the concept. The AMS game is a digital and physical board game intended to make AMS training engaging and inclusive, generating fun and enthusiasm, with educative purposes and outcomes.
2. Outcomes and Impact
The game was co-created with a diverse group of stakeholders from high-and low-income countries. The feedback from the initial players of the game highlighted that the game is enjoyable and provides an innovative and engaging opportunity to discuss AMR and AMS, whilst improving and strengthening their knowledge of key topics. There are sustainability and global impacts of the use of digital/online games and the “buy one, donate one” rollout model.
3. Future Development
The AMS Game is an established tool in the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association’s AMR programme activities, enabling the promotion of the game in training across the Commonwealth and beyond. This will be promoted and expanded globally via the second phase of the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS 2) programme. In addition, given the constraints on NHS training budgets, the game will be promoted as a cost-effective training resource throughout the UK. The game will be updated based on feedback and best practice. In 2023, outreach will be expanded into India with a Hindi translation of the game.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, F.G., D.A.-O. and S.C.; data curation, F.G., M.N., S.C., D.A.-O. and M.B.; methodology, F.G., M.N. and D.A.-O.; project administration, M.N., S.C., M.B. and F.G.; supervision, F.G.; validation, F.G.; writing—original draft, F.G., S.C. and M.N.; writing—review and editing, D.A.-O., M.N., M.B., S.C., F.G. and V.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This project and partnership were part of the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) managed by the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) and Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA). CwPAMS is a global health partnership programme funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) using UK aid funding. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the DHSC or its Management Agent, Mott MacDonald, the UK National Health Service, the Tropical Health and Education Trust, or the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Ethical approval was not required as per NHS Health Research Authority guidance and the NHS health research decision tool because this was a service evaluation of CPA’s programme of activities to develop and implement the AMS game as part of the CwPAMS programme. All respondents participated strictly in their professional capacity, no identifiable data were collected, and their participation in the survey was in all cases on the basis of informed consent.
Informed Consent Statement
Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study.
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Project team: Diane Ashiru-Oredope, Nikki D’Arcy, Will Townsend, Sarah Cavanagh, Richard Skone-James, Frances Garraghan, and Melvin Bell. Many thanks to all who were involved in the development process. For more information visit
www.amsgame.com.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.
| Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).