REVERSE: Pooling efforts to solve problems
Ashlesha Sonpar is an infectious diseases physician from Canada. During her training and subsequent practice, she was part of both the AntiMicrobial Stewardship (AMS) and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programs. She currently works on REVERSE, an ambitious project with several different work packages and interventions. REVERSE collaborates with the COMBACTE network to ensure participating hospitals have the capacity to implement their interventions.
The aim of REVERSE is to develop and implement cost-effective strategies and tools for the prevention and clinical management of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) due to multidrug-resistant pathogens, and to reduce the burden of AntiMicrobial Resistance (AMR) in high prevalence care settings. For Ashlesha, REVERSE is an excellent opportunity to collaborate with her European peers on this challenging issue.
Caring for patients with infections caused by drug resistant bacteria is one of Ashlesha’s motivations: “There were a few situations where I felt helpless since I had only a few treatment options to offer, all with serious side effects.’’
‘’The pandemic is a great example of what can be achieved when people pool their efforts into solving a problem. This has shown me that we can aim higher and be more ambitious – and that is exactly what we plan to do with REVERSE.’’
Role within REVERSE
Within REVERSE Ashlesha approaches her role as administrative project manager from a more technical angle. She is responsible for the trial protocol, the database covering all 24 sites, and for facilitating conversations between work packages as the interventions in REVERSE are so interdependent.
GOAL
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to have a strong public health response in the community and for well-established IPC programs in hospitals. However, while the focus is on respiratory viruses, other important pathogens have been neglected.
“Drug-resistant bacteria are a daily challenge for us – one that requires a multi-disciplinary approach and collaboration. In the last few years, we have accomplished so much as a scientific community, such as new collaborations between different departments and international centres, more hospitals prioritizing clinical studies and joining trials for the first time, and more individuals interested in integrating research into their medical practice.’’