Resistance Ranger: Teaching Schoolchildren about Antimicrobial Resistance

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Resistance Ranger Teaching Schoolchildren
about Antimicrobial Resistance

• Nadia S. Juzych, Emma Bissonnette,
• Mary Eley, and Stephen A. Lerner
• Michigan Antibiotic Resistance
• Reduction (MARR) Coalition
• Detroit, Michigan U.S.A.

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Community Education

• Outreach
• Health fairs receptivity among children/parents
• Community nurses
• Poster/Brochure distribution (Mich. Dept.
  Community Health)
• School educational module Antibiotics and You

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Why educate school children?

• Future health decision makers
• Children influence/teach their parents
• Direct-to-consumer advertising can target and
  affect children we can employ such tools
  positively in the health arena

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School Educational Module Antibiotics You

• Pilot
• - St. Anne Elementary School, November, 2001
• Participants
• 300 4th - 6th graders (9 - 11 years of age)
• Racially and ethnically diverse students of
• middle SES families

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Antibiotics and You Program Overview

• 45 minute, interactive program covering
• the difference between bacteria and viruses
• how germs spread
• how antibiotics work
• what antibiotic resistance is
• what to do when you get sick
• how to protect our antibiotic lifeline
• Emphasis on Stay Healthy Messages
• Eat well
• Exercise
• Get plenty of sleep
• Hand washing

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Interactive Activities Making it Fun

• Transmission Glow Germ, water filled balloon,
  and hand washing exercise
• Prevention immunization, stay healthy messages
  (proper diet, exercise, rest)
• Importance of hand washing agar plate demo
• Commitment Resistance Ranger pledge

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Antibiotics You

• Pre- and post-education quiz
• 10 true/false questions to identify basic
  knowledge on appropriate antibiotic use
• Results indicate overall 15.1 improvement from
  pre- to post-session knowledge (plt0.05)
• 4th graders improved the most(16.7)

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Teacher Evaluation

• Assessed by all six classroom teachers
• Age appropriate
• Made science fun
• Successfully built upon hand washing modules from
  earlier grades
• Plan to incorporate into science curriculum
• Would be useful/appropriate for parents as well

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Building upon our success...Next Steps

• MARR Coalition overview
• Microbiology overview
• Antibiotics You presentation (slides and
  talking points)
• Presentation handouts activity sheets, pledge
  sheet, letter to parents
• Process overview (step-by-step instructions)
• Additional resources
• CD-ROM containing all materials in electronic
  format

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MARR Ambassadors

• Train-the-Trainer session(17 participants)
• Instructors tool kit
• MARR ambassadorsconduct program in communities
  across Michigan
• Saginaw/Flint
• Grand Rapids
• Mt. Clemens
• Muskegon

Instructors Tool Kit
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Award

• Antibiotics You earned the Award for
  Innovation in Appropriate Antibiotic Use Programs
  in the Community
• Sponsored by CDC Foundation and Wyeth
  Pharmaceuticals
• National recognition

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Take-Home Lessons

• It works Statistically significant improvements
  in knowledge
• Dont underestimate kids Comprehension of
  technical information is high
• Make it fun Mix didactic approach with
  interactive
• Secure commitment Deputizing Resistance Rangers

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Antibiotics
You For antibiotics the rule is clear. Its
simple, its easy, its important to hear. These
drugs fight bacteria, not viruses, you see. But
take as directed and better youll be. Dont
misuse them or share them or save them, my
dear. Or else they wont work when you need them,
I fear. Stay healthy, drink fluids and always be
clean. These rules are good, theyre not meant to
be mean. Antibiotic misuse is a danger. Preserve
our lifeline, be a Resistance Ranger. I pledge
to help Resistance Ranger fight Antibiotic
Resistance. Name