OPAT: Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy

OPAT: Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy is organized by FutureLearn.

Duration: 2 Weeks

Description:
OPAT is a clinical service which enables patients with serious infection to be managed in an outpatient setting. The service aims to facilitate admission avoidance or early hospital discharge.
On this course, you will be introduced to the concept of OPAT. You’ll start by looking at the roles and responsibilities within the multi-disciplinary OPAT team.

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...
• Identify the function, role and limitations of OPAT in modern health care
• Compare the different roles and responsibilities within the multi-disciplinary OPAT team and reflect on how other health care providers may contribute to the service
• Explain how patient selection, antimicrobial choice and device selection and monitoring are crucial to achieving optimal outcome
• Explore how OPAT relates to the wider antimicrobial stewardship agenda and health care governance
• Apply antimicrobial stewardship principles to clinical OPAT practice