The attainments obtained in the sixteen Local Health Units with the drive-AMS were presented and briefly discussed and the participants devoted most of the time to discuss and plan drive-AMS’s future in Portugal, its sustainability, stakeholders, dissemination and goals.
In the first day, the participants concluded that synergies with other quality improvement initiatives going on in Portugal around Infection Control and Prevention and Rational Use of Antibiotics, namely the STOP-Hospital Infection Project, should be pursued and attained. It was also decided that a Portuguese Consensus Document on Antimicrobial Stewardship – addressing the why, the what and the how – must be quickly produced and the methodology for the purpose was debated and globally decided.
On the second day, the talks and debates focused on the sustainability of drive-AMS and on how to move from a Project – which is a temporary – to an Infrastructure, meaning how to move it from an add-on into the norm of the institutions. Ways of guaranteeing the alignment between clinicians and managers and the endorsement and support of the Regulatory Agencies were thoroughly discussed and several plans popped up. A first example was to produce a consensus document to be send the Ministry of Health in which all the institutions present in the meeting would emphasize AMS as priority task and the need to maintain drive-AMS as one of the main actions of the Portuguese Sustainable Health Pact 2024-2030. A second example was to promote an association of institutions that would manage the operation of drive-AMS as a collaborative movement and would guarantee its financial exercise.
The atmosphere of the drive-AMS PT Long Road Meeting was very participative, friendly, warm and engaged and it was able to create great motivation for everyone present and a sense of confidence on the sustainable future of drive-AMS in Portugal.
