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National and Regional AIM Meetings
2008
AIM Launch Meeting
Sarajevo, Bosnia, 30 May 2008
Around 65 Bosnian clinicians attended this 1-day AIM meeting in Sarajevo, which was chaired by Prof Dr Hukić Mirsada. Delegates were a mix of specialities: haematologists, intensivists, surgeons (abdominal, urologists, neurosurgeons), paediatricians, microbiologists, infectologists, pharmacologists and pharmacists, with the majority from the Clinical Centre of the University of Sarajevo and a few from clinical hospitals in Tuzla, Mostar and Banjaluka. Gilbert Park opened the meeting with a presentation outlining the AIM programme and core principles. Other presentations were geared specifically for the region: “Bosnia: pathogen and resistance today” and “New treatment paradigm”, while a workshop session included two case studies: one surgical case and one pneumonia case.
The meeting was well received by the delegates and it stimulated a challenging debate in the question sessions. Delegates were also very impressed with the case study approach. Very positive feedback was given for the quality of the programme and for the educational level of its contents. Below is a photo of the delegates who attended the AIM meeting in Sarajevo.
AIM symposium
Moscow, Russia, 21 May 2008
An AIM symposium was held in Moscow and chaired by Professor S Yakovlev:
- Professor Roman Koslov presented pathogen epidemiology data from Russia, which emphasised the continuing increase in the incidence of problem Gram-negative organisms and MRSA.
- Dr David Livermore, UK, echoed Professor Koslov’s Gram-negative data by confirming that difficult-to-treat pathogens were an issue in every European country.
- Dr Robert Masterton considered treatment issues in nosocomial pneumonia in a presentation that featured diagnosis, treatment guidelines, choice of empiric antibiotics and the use of care bundles.
- Professor Sidorenko concluded the symposium by outlining new evidence-based strategies to minimise the spread of resistant pathogens.
We are delighted to share with you two of these presentations; the first is by David Livermore and is entitled “Therapy of infections due to multi-resistant Gram –ves”. The second is by Robert Masterton and is entitled 'New cornerstones in the management of nosocomial chest infection'.
Russia also has its own version of the AIM website; please follow the link to view our Russian counterpart .
 (Acrobat PDF)
(Acrobat PDF) New!
AIM: 4th Latin American Summit
Cartagena, Colombia, 28–29 March 2008
A 4th AIM Latin American Summit took place in Colombia and we are pleased to share with you two exciting presentations from this meeting.
(PDF)
(PDF)
First AstraZeneca Intensive Therapy Forum: Infection and Other Key Issues
Vienna,
28–29 February 2008
A meeting for intensivists, clinical microbiologists and infectious disease specialists with an interest in intensive care medicine was held in Vienna. Although not an AIM event, some of the presentations are relevant to the AIM programme and we are delighted to share these with you.
(PowerPoint)
(PowerPoint)
2007
AIM Faculty Business Meeting, Manchester (30 June – 1 July 2007)
Emerging Infectious Disease Issues in the Hospital Setting
This informative and exciting presentation was prepared for delivery at the recent AIM faculty business meeting, which was held at Alderley Park, Cheshire. The case highlights the infectious disease challenges in the hospital setting faced by clinicians and other medical staff in relation to defining optimal treatment and differentiating colonisation from infection. Please follow the link to access the slides.
AIM North West England Meeting (17–18 May 2007)
Key points from the plenary sessions:
Fungal infections in the ICU
Dr Chris Kibbler (Royal Free Hospital, London) noted that fungi do cause problems in the ICU. For example, nearly 1% of patients admitted to UK ICUs had a Candida bloodstream infection (Kibbler C, et al. J Hosp Infect 2003;54:18–24); 0.4% of 9000 admissions to a Belgian ICU had invasive aspergillosis (Vandewoude KH, et al. J Hosp Infect 2004;56:269–276). The key question that remains unanswered is which tests or treatment strategies should be used to target antifungal therapy at the patients who would benefit the most.
Clostridium difficile infections
Dr Andrew Pearson (UK Health Protection Agency, Colindale, London) reviewed this increasingly worrying problem. He noted that guidelines were available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement ().
Gram-negative resistance – current issues
Dr Paul Chadwick (Hope Hospital, Salford, UK) confirmed the value of large-scale surveillance studies, such as MYSTIC, in providing early warning of resistance problems. Find further information using the section of this site.
The key to managing resistance at the unit level is, however, to collect and analyse unit-specific data. Dr Chadwick noted that local data from the North West showed the prevalence of ESBL producers among enterobacteria isolated from blood cultures to be approximately 10%. This should be taken into account when treating patients with severe sepsis as there is a risk of inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy, which needs to be acknowledged and assessed.
Maximising the impact of your AIM meetings
Dr Ken Lowry (Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast) summarised his experience running AIM meetings. Key points from his presentation were:
- AIM meetings are popular as there is a real need for infection education.
- Interactive meetings where everyone has a chance to take part offer more educational benefits than merely a series of lectures (lectures are good but they should be accompanied by interactive sessions).
- Restrict attendees to a maximum of about 35 and have a cabaret-style seating plan to maximise interaction.
- Workmats are an excellent way for groups of delegates to work through case studies together. Allow 45 minutes per case.
- Dr Lowry recommended ICU case 4, Surgical case 1 and Pneumonia case 4 workmats as particularly useful examples to work through, Access workmats through the section of this site.
AIM Venezuela Meeting, Caracas (19 May 2007)
About 150 Venezuelan clinicians attended a 1-day AIM meeting in Caracas on 19 May, which was chaired by Dr Raul Izturis. To enhance delegate learning, the meeting was based on interactive workgroups rather than extended plenary sessions. The delegates were split into five teams, which enabled them to take part in each workgroup. Workgroup topics included: choice of empiric therapy; AIM case studies; interpretation of antibiograms and pharmacodynamics. Each workgroup was chaired by two Venezuelan clinical experts. Also featured in the programme was a well-received presentation on mechanisms of antibiotic resistance from Dr Joe Iaconis of AstraZeneca Infection Research. Our congratulations go to the 10 individuals who form the Venezuelan AIM board who made the meeting such a success.
Key learning point: The AIM website case studies and slide sets are an ideal source of materials for running interactive learning sessions with colleagues. Allow 45 minutes for each case study, including discussion breaks to talk about key points.
1st AIM Advanced Meeting, Ioannina (14 April 2007)
An ‘Advanced AIM’ meeting, organised in conjunction with the Greek AIM faculty, took place in Ioannina, Greece on the 14 April 2007. The meeting was planned in response to the great interest shown and demand for further information by physicians who had previously attended an AIM meeting. Based on previous AIM meetings, the ‘Advanced AIM’ meeting was centred on sepsis, with further presentations on infection and appropriate use of antibiotics.
The meeting was attended by 60 physicians from four different specialities: pulmonologists, haematologists/oncologists, intensivists and surgeons. All the attendees were very satisfied with the educational level and quality of the programme, both in terms of the plenary presentations and the practical (workshop) sessions.
‘Advanced AIM’ is believed to contribute to the expansion of the new treatment paradigm in infection management and is a natural extension of materials previously presented at AIM meetings.
2006
Discovering the New World of Hospital Infection, Lisbon
‘Discovering the New World of Hospital Infection’, an anti-infectives meeting sponsored by AstraZeneca, was held in Lisbon, Portugal at the beginning of November 2006.
The Impact of Getting it Right First Time
Presented by José Garnacho-Montero
2005
AIM Meeting, London (3–4 October 2005)
A national AIM meeting took place in London on 3 and 4 October 2005. “Surviving Sepsis–A Multi-Disciplinary Approach” was attended by 50 highly enthusiastic delegates representing all key specialities from around the United Kingdom. Speakers involved were AIM core faculty members Robert Masterton (Ayrshire) and Gilbert Park (Cambridge) as well as Professor Gary French (London) and Professor Peter Hawkey (Birmingham).
The meeting opened with a pre-dinner presentation from Professor Duerden, Inspector of Microbiology and Infection Control for the Department of Health, which explored the challenges confronting the control of infection in the British National Health Service. The remainder of the meeting covered reviews of current concepts in the surgical and medical approaches to sepsis, the consequences of inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing and group-led workmat sessions that mimicked this teaching methodology within individual institutions and departments. The various aspects of the meeting were well received by the audience and stimulated challenging debate in the question sessions.
2004
Regional Meeting, Baltimore (9 October 2004)
The first US-based educational meeting in infection management took place in Baltimore, USA, under the AIM aegis. The meeting consisted of a mixture of plenary presentations and case study workshop sessions. The physicians who attended the meeting thoroughly enjoyed these workshop sessions, finding them both informative and extremely useful for exchanging ideas. Similar meetings are planned for 2005.
IDSA Annual Meeting, Boston (30 September - 3 October 2004)
AIM had an exhibition booth at the IDSA annual meeting. Hundreds of healthcare professionals visited the booth, where they could learn more about the AIM programme. A number of the AIM faculty were on hand to discuss the exciting new plans for AIM in 2005 and any issues around the management of serious infections.
Brazilian National Meeting, Bahia (17-20 June 2004)
A national AIM meeting was held in Ilha de Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil, where around 40 physicians — mainly infectious diseases specialists — gathered to listen to the latest information on AIM and in particular, antibiotic resistance issues important in Brazil. AIM recognises the importance of considering local antibiotic resistance issues when deciding on the most appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Very positive feedback was given by delegates at the meeting and a number of the physicians commented on the usefulness of case study-based workshops in promoting learning — even amongst a group of physicians with countless years of experience!
2003
AIM Higher Campaign
Dr Robert Masterton recently led a 2-hour videoconference in India; 7 peripheral centres were linked to the conference, with an average of 6 doctors/centre.
Dr Masterton began by discussing an AIM case study followed, by a presentation to highlight the importance of getting it right first time. The meeting was highly interactive and received an overwhelming response from the 40 participants. As a consequence, Dr Masterton was highly appreciative of the response and is keen to conduct similar virtual meetings in addition to his routine physical seminars.
AIM Programme in Greece
A highly successful AIM meeting took place in Rhodes, Greece during the weekend of 10 June. This was the third meeting to be held in Greece and was considered by attendees to be the best so far. Delegates enjoyed a mixture of highly informative plenary presentations and group exercises that were centred around case study workmats. Delegates were given the opportunity to work through cases by discussing relevant treatment decisions and management options, and then using these discussions to answer questions throughout each of the workmats.
This created a very stimulating and interactive meeting that was enjoyed by all. The feedback from all attendees was extremely positive.
AIM Programme in India
The AIM faculty have been heavily involved in various educational initiatives all over the world and one such example is Dr Gilbert Park’s work with AIM colleagues in India. Dr Park assisted in the running of four educational meetings; these comprised plenary presentations and patient case study-based workshops, during which AIM workmats formed the basis of discussions surrounding treatment options and patient outcomes. Learn more about the AIM programme in India from his article entitled ‘Case-based learning as a practical educational tool in infection management’, which was published recently in the World Federation Journal of Critical Care.
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