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Using e-Bug to raise awareness of infection in Foundation Phase school children: a pilot study
Avril Tucker – Primary Care Antimicrobial Pharmacist
Context and Aim
During the 2nd lesson, a homework task was given to the children and encouragement given for a parent to help with the design of a poster depicting the key themes. The aim was to reinforce the lessons and promote the AMR message within their wider family.
e-Bug is a free
educational resource
developed by Public
Health England. It is
designed to make learning about micro-organisms and the spread, prevention and treatment of infection fun and accessible to all students.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) refers to a natural phenomenon in which microorganisms become resistant to antibiotics that were originally effective in treating them. There is a strong, established link between high antibiotic use and the emergence of AMR. Reducing suboptimal antibiotic use is a medicines priority of Wales. This includes in children where antibiotic prescribing rates are highest.
Introduction: Every poster is different. You may wish to modify elements of the design to suit your needs. Keep the colour scheme and logos to be consistent with the current WCBPS branding /identity. Keep the word count light. (
Methods: Here
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Results and Impact
Over 300 children took part in the e-Bug pilot
Verbal feedback was used to evaluate knowledge
Common words to describe germs included ‘disgusting’, ‘horrid’, ‘yuck’, ‘bad’ and ‘poo/snot’
Teaching staff commented on the positive engagement of the children and how well the information had been remembered
All pupils had e-Bug related entries in their educational logs, which demonstrated many of the Foundation phase and LNF measures
As a result of this pilot, e-Bug is being rolled out to Primary Schools across Wales through the Health Schools programme
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Strategy for Change
To our knowledge, this is the first time e-Bug has been used with children as young as 3 years old. It was delivered to Foundation Phase children
(3 – 7 years) at the request of the schools who noted that absenteeism through ill health was the highest in this age group.
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Method
Lessons Learned
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The e-Bug resource was mapped to the Welsh Foundation Phase Curriculum and the Literacy, Numeracy and Oracy Framework (LNF). It was then used to deliver 3 x 1 hour lessons in 10 primary schools in Bridgend (November 2016 to March 2017). The lessons were ‘Horrid Hands’, ‘Super Sneezes’ and ‘How Clean is your Kitchen’. These were delivered by an antimicrobial pharmacist.
The children were quizzed during an activity in lesson 1 to gauge understanding of the
introductory talk.
In order to imbed new messages, it is important to understand and address potential barriers to change. Mapping the e-Bug lessons to the Welsh curriculum engaged teachers through helping demonstrate key educational indicators for Estyn Inspections. This contributed to the 100% uptake from the approached schools and generated enthusiasm for the material, ultimately improving the sustainability of the project.
Figure 2. Make sure figures are high resolution. Images taken from the internet could print poorly. Check file size. Zoom into the image and look for pixelation.
Figure 3. Make sure figures are high resolution. Images taken from the internet could print poorly. Check file size. Zoom into the image and look for pixelation.
Figure 4. Make sure figures are high resolution. Images taken from the internet could print poorly. Check file size. Zoom into the image and look for pixelation.
Conclusion
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To reduce antibiotic use, innovative approaches to patient education need to be developed. It is not known whether school absenteeism, unnecessary GP appointments or suboptimal antibiotic use were reduced as a result of this pilot, but this project has identified one approach to raise awareness of infection in young children that warrants further research and evaluation.
Project support: Liz Hutchinson, Lisa Ellis, Claire Arthur & Alex Gibbins (Bridgend Medicine Management)
Andrew Ware (Public Health Wales), Jamie Hayes (WMRC), Bridgend Healthy Schools