Modern Tools Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance at the Ancient Temples of Angkor Wat
A short distance from the Cambodian UNESCO world heritage site of Angkor Wat, where over 2 million people visit the ancient temples, is Angkor Children Hospital of Siem Reap. A hospital that is pioneering antimicrobial stewardship in Cambodia, and throughout the region, with the help of a medical guidelines app called MicroGuide ™.
MicroGuide ™ has been an invaluable tool that’s helped the National Health Service in the UK (NHS) tackle the growing issue of antimicrobial resistance and is now successfully helping countries with UN Least Developed Country status to take control of the problem too. MicroGuide ™ which is used by thousands of doctors, clinicians, and other key medical staff around the world, has helped boost Antimicrobial Stewardship in Cambodia and Horizon Strategic Partners who developed MicroGuide™ is now planning further expansion.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), antimicrobial resistance poses an increasing threat worldwide and appropriate use of antibiotics is needed to reduce this risk. It’s this challenge that the MicroGuide™ Medical Guidelines App is tackling head on. By effectively providing medical professionals with localised antimicrobial prescribing guidance helps improve infection control while limiting inappropriate use of broad spectrum antibiotics.
The MicroGuide Medical Guidelines platform and app has already been used extensively throughout the NHS and has now proven its worth in less developed countries where doctors and clinicians have to contend with poor facilities, restricted access to up to date clinical guidance and limited access to microbiology labs to confirm infections. Given these constraints Cambodian hospitals needed accessible frameworks to operate in, which is where MicroGuide™ has been invaluable at the Angkor Hospital for Children.
MicroGuide™ has been used at the hospital for two years after it was recommended by a doctor being trained in Britain who was on secondment and since then it’s become an essential part of hospital’s operations
Dr Paul Turner, Director of the Cambodia Oxford Medical Research Unit in Siem Reap, Cambodia, at the Angkor Hospital and Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, commented, “MicroGuide™ has been a huge success within the Angkor Hospital for Children. Since we started using the tool it’s been opened at least 500 times a month and some conditions have been searched and accessed more than 100,000 times. Before MicroGuide™ was implemented our status of Antimicrobial Stewardship was hit and miss and it was an uphill struggle to address as there was a serious lack of access to clinical guidelines.
“We’ve still got a way to go but since using MicroGuide™ there’s been an increasing amount of enthusiasm at the hospital to get involved in stewardship activities, it’s improving knowledge, the working environment and patient outcomes.”
One of the key factors that has made MicroGuide™ a success at the Angkor Hospital for Children is that it has taken research, guidelines, and processes and made them specific to Cambodia. This means that rather than having a UK or US focus, the prescribing guidelines are directly relevant to the hospital’s patients and the specific local conditions. It’s led to the hospital putting their own stamp on the already powerful tool to ensure it delivered improved patient care and all without the need for costly computer hardware.
Mike Northall, CEO of Horizon Strategic Partners, the company behind MicroGuide™, said, “We are delighted that MicroGuide™ is having such a positive impact on Antimicrobial Stewardship at the Children’s Hospital in Cambodia and will be expanded throughout the region. It’s largely thanks to the doctors that have used the app within the NHS, seeing the positive effects for themselves, and then introducing it to their new workplaces around the world.”
To find out more visit microguide.eu/.