Mission Antibiotix helps WAAW 2023 to success

The 2023 World AMR Awareness Week was another success, thanks to the commitment and the creativity of its participating organisations. The centres for hygiene and infection prevention and control of Canton Vaud (HPCi Vaud) and the Canton Vaud University Hospital (CHUV) teamed up to devise ‘Mission Antibiotix’, an online game that sensitises players to the whole issue of antibiotic resistance and correct antibiotic treatments.

Mission Antibiotix: progress through play

To help mark 2023 World AMR Awareness Week, two key healthcare institutions – the centres for hygiene and infection prevention and control (HPCis) of Canton Vaud and of the Canton Vaud University Hospital (CHUV) in Lausanne – invited participating physicians from the canton’s various acute care facilities to play the virtual game Mission Antibiotix online.

Mission Antibiotix prompts its players to make good prescription choices and reflect more generally on best practices for antibiotic therapy by visiting four virtual patients, studying their cases and deciding on the appropriate course of action, all within a specified time. The game was devised entirely by the two HPCis, working with the CHUV’s anti-infection workgroup and with the support of the HPCis’ communications teams and the CHUV’s training centre.

Mission Antibiotix was used throughout the week-long WAAW 2023 to stage an interdepartmental championship. Games were organised in lecture halls and during training seminars. In addition to being freely accessible, this educational tool also enabled individual participation. A special version of the game was developed for pediatricians, too.

The Mission Antibiotix website has had more than 500 visits since it went online. At the CHUV alone, some 38 teams consisting of more than 165 players (physicians and pharmacists) and representing 23 different departments took part in the lively competition between 20 and 24 November 2023.

Participants’ feedback on the game was highly positive overall. Most respondents praised its innovative and dynamic approach. As a result, a new version of the game along the same lines is likely to be proposed for WAAW 2024.

Mission Antibiotix remains available online at Mission Antibiotix. The game is aimed at all prescribing physicians, but is also more widely open to anyone interested in the subject.

The team behind the Mission Antibiotix project:

Dr. Estelle Ben Salah-Moulin, hospital doctor, HPCi CHUV, Infectious Diseases Service, CHUV, Lausanne
Dr. Emmanouil Glampedakis, associate physician, HPCi Vaud, Cantonal Medical Office, Health Directorate-General, Lausanne
Dr. Laurence Senn, chief physician, HPCi CHUV, Infectious Diseases Service, CHUV, Lausanne
Dr. Alessandro Cassini, assistant cantonal medical officer, Cantonal Medical Office, Health Directorate-General, Lausanne
Ms. May-Kou Moroni, chief communications officer, HPCi Vaud, Cantonal Medical Office, Health Directorate-General, Lausanne
In collaboration with the CHUV Anti-Infection Workgroup and the CHUV Training Centre (Ms. Florence Minchin)

More impressions

You’ll find a summary of the further interesting activities and events that made up WAAW 2023 on the Strategy on Antibiotic Resistance (StAR) website.

Links

Mission Antibiotix | virtual game