Introducing antimicrobial resistance
Introduction
This course will introduce how antibiotics work and how bacteria acquire and transmit resistance.
You will start by exploring how antibiotics can exert powerful antibacterial effects but be generally well tolerated by people and animals, focusing on the different modes of antibiotic action. You will then consider how bacteria develop resistance in order to protect themselves from antibiotics. You will explore the main mechanisms of antibiotic resistance as well as the differences between intrinsic and acquired resistance, including how acquired resistance is transferred.
You may be familiar with the terms ‘antimicrobial’, ‘antibacterial’ and ‘antibiotic’. Each has a slightly different meaning, but in this course, we will use the term ‘antibiotic’ to refer to any drug that is active against bacteria.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- explain how antibiotics work against bacterial pathogens
- state what is meant by the term ‘antibiotic resistance’
- explain that antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon that protects bacteria from hostile environments
- explain how resistance mechanisms arise, and how resistance can be passed on during bacterial replication
- describe the horizontal gene transfer mechanisms that allow antibiotic resistance to be transferred between bacteria
- apply scientific terminology when explaining how antibiotic resistance relates to your current work.
In order to achieve your digital badge and Statement of Participation for this course, you must:
- click on every page of the course
- pass the end-of-course quiz
- complete the course satisfaction survey.
The quiz allows up to three attempts at each question. A passing grade is 50% or more.
When you have successfully achieved the completion criteria listed above you will receive an email notification that your badge and Statement of Participation have been awarded. (Please note that it can take up to 24 hours for these to be issued.)
Activity 1: Assessing your knowledge and skills
Before you begin this course you should take a moment to think about the learning outcomes and how confident you feel about your knowledge and skills in these areas. Do not worry if you do not feel very confident in some skills – they may be areas that you are hoping to develop by studying these courses.
Now use the interactive tool to rate your confidence in these areas using the following scale:
- 5 Very confident
- 4 Confident
- 3 Neither confident nor not confident
- 2 Not very confident
- 1 Not at all confident
Try to use the full range of ratings shown above to rate yourself:
Although this is an introductory course on antibiotic resistance, it assumes that you have a basic understanding of DNA and proteins. If you are unfamiliar with these concepts, you might want to try our free OpenLearn course What do genes do? [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] and listen to our set of audios on DNA, RNA and protein formation before you begin this course.
Activity 2: New terms from Introducing antimicrobial resistance
As you work through the course, put together a personal list of terms that are new to you. Make sure that you feel confident with what they mean and that you can apply them to your own working practice.
- Have you heard any of these terms mentioned in your day-to-day work?
- What was the context that they were used in?
- Can you think of how you would use some of these terms in your day-to-day work?
Add your notes to your reflective blog.
