Antimicrobial stewardship in animal health

Introduction

Welcome to Antimicrobial stewardship in animal health. It is aimed at animal health professionals including laboratory professionals, veterinary services and managers, and policymakers.

The term ‘stewardship’ means the responsible management of something that has been put into someone’s care. And so, when we ask someone to be an ‘antimicrobial steward’, what we are really asking is that they use antimicrobials responsibly and sparingly.

In this course, you will learn about antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in animal health. Issues related to the use of antimicrobials for therapeutic and non-therapeutic purposes, animal welfare and the role of diagnostics in guiding therapeutic decisions in animals will be covered.

While antimicrobials are used in most animals, the quantities used in livestock (e.g. chickens, pigs, cattle) and aquaculture are of most concern for public health. Therefore, we will focus our learning on AMS in livestock and aquaculture.

In this course, the term ‘food animals’ is used to describe livestock and aquaculture food-producing animals.

Please be aware that this course is longer than most, involving eight hours of study.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• define the five principles of AMS in animal health
• describe how intrinsic and extrinsic factors drive prescribing behaviour
• list and explain the different therapeutic and non-therapeutic uses of antimicrobial agents in food animal production
• identify the relationship between AMS and animal welfare
• list antimicrobial agents rated as critically important for people that are commonly used in food animal production.

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.)