Antimicrobial stewardship in community pharmacy: a full review of online educational resources

Background Significant progress has been made in embedding strong antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) practices within community pharmacy teams as their roles expand to meet growing primary care appointment demand. To maintain this momentum, it is essential that registered community pharmacy professionals, whether newly entering the workforce or refreshing their skills, have access to high quality online learning resources that support the development, renewal and expansion of their AMS knowledge. Aim To identify and assess the available online antimicrobial stewardship training resources suitable for community pharmacy teams in England. Methods A search was conducted to identify easily accessible online antimicrobial educational resources specifically designed for, or suitable for, community pharmacy professionals Results Twenty online resources were identified, of which 12 were selected for evaluation. The resources ranged from being suitable for novices to advanced learners with specific learning needs. Conclusions Although there are few education resources created specifically for community pharmacy professionals, a wide range of online materials are suitable and can provide a strong foundation in antimicrobial knowledge and support further learning at the learner’s own pace. Targeted resources can help address individual learners’ questions, while many of the available materials offer practical applications relevant to both community pharmacy and broader primary care settings. Since many of these resources are open to all healthcare professionals, they standardize knowledge across the workforce and support better integration of community pharmacy within the wider NHS system.