Companion animal and equine teams can access a free CPD course on Learn to become an antibiotic guardian, and the antibiotic audit tool, providing teams with knowledge, resources and tools to make positive changes in their antimicrobial prescribing.
Knowing that RCVS Knowledge are working with the professions to support our antimicrobial use and provide resources to help us improve is very exciting.”
Megan Conroy, RVN
Become an antibiotic guardian
Access our free Antibiotic Guardian CPD course focused on improving antimicrobial stewardship in practice. The CPD courses encompass a wide spectrum of practical, relevant, and applicable information, including:
- what is antimicrobial resistance
- how we categorise antibiotics
- how to perform in-house cytology
- antibiotic use for specific clinical presentations.
By completing the modules in this course you will be awarded a status of Antibiotic Guardian at one of four levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. You can become a Gold Antibiotic Guardian specifically for equine, dogs and cats and small mammals, avians and exotics.
We are encouraging all veterinary practice teams to have at least one Gold Antibiotic Guardian within their clinic, who will have the skills and knowledge to promote the responsible use of antibiotics.
Measure your progress
Our free antibiotic audit tool helps teams gather data to make the right, evidence-based decisions for their patients. This tool supports case-by-case reflection for patients having been prescribed antibiotics, as well as looking at wider practice use. Clients can be invited to report on treatment outcomes, allowing teams to see how antimicrobial prescriptions can be improved for specific clinical presentations.
This tool is currently only available to equine clinics but will be coming soon for companion animal clinics. Companion animal clinics can register their interest by following the link to the audit tool.
Celebrate your progress
The RCVS Knowledge Antimicrobial Stewardship Award showcases practical examples where teams are improving responsible antimicrobial prescribing using recognised quality improvement methods.
Antibiotic Guardians team
Our projects are run by our team of clinical leads.
Companion animal clinical leads
- Angela Rayner BVM&S MScPSHCF MRCVS
- David Singleton BVSc MSc PhD MRCVS
- Tim Nuttall BSc BVSc CertVD PhD CBiol MRSB MRCVS
Equine clinical lead
- Tim Mair BVSc PhD DEIM DipECEIM DESTS FRCVS