Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship Zone

The framework covers very broad groups of staff and students:

• everyone working or preparing to work within health and social care in Scotland, who interacts/will interact with those in care or their families/carers
• those who are involved in direct care or in a supporting role
• laboratory staff who provide diagnostic expertise and laboratory reports which are essential for the treatment of infections
• staff in management and organisational oversight roles who can influence and direct the provision of services.

It excludes any additional competencies for staff in specialist antimicrobial stewardship/infection roles. Examples for these roles are antimicrobial stewardship nurses, antimicrobial pharmacists, infection specialist doctors and nurses and those with non-prescribing specialist infection roles in laboratory medicine and public health/epidemiology.

But this framework will be useful for those new to a specialist post in AMS/IPC. Specialists/leaders will also find the framework useful to identify learning needs in their wider team and for signposting or directing those who are thinking about working in the field or are interested in developing specialist competencies. All AMS/IPC/Health Protection specialists should be familiar with this framework.

The framework covers all care settings, from primary care to hospitals, from care homes to care at home. The content of the framework is generic, and statements have not been aligned to a specific care setting.

Next page: What does the framework cover?