Alisa Gramatniece, Infectiology internist from Latvia, was the first foreign specialist to take a training observership in infection control and antibiotherapy at Hospital Beatriz Ângelo (HBA), under the scope of the internship program of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). Since December 2016, HBA is one of the two Portuguese hospital units certified by ESCMID to provide training in infection control to physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals from all over the world. Practising at Paul Stradins Clinical University Hospital, in Riga (Latvia), Alisa Gramatniece took specialization in infectious diseases, an area she confesses “to have a passion for”. After being in the United States, Sweden and Portugal in the scope of her pre-graduate training, she returned to Lisbon, where she followed, in May, the daily work of the HBA team of prevention, infection control and antimicrobial resistance, coordinated by internist Carlos Palos. It was an “opportunity to see how it all works in practice”, a knowledge she will now try to implement in her own institution. The incidence of multidrug resistant bacteria in Latvia is much more reduced than in the south of Europe (where there is a steady increase), but this physician plans “to combine all knowledge and apply it, especially in the gathering of data, which is critical”, she states, adding that HBA has “an excellent system”. Besides staying at HBA – where she observed how the analysis of antibiotic prescriptions (antimicrobial stewardship), the epidemiologic monitoring of significant infections associated with health care and microorganisms, screening and insulation procedures, and laboratory and pharmaceutical services intervention were done –, there was also an opportunity to visit Technophage, leader in phage therapeutics research which collaborates closely with HBA, as well as the Synlab central laboratory. Created in 1983, ESCMID is a non-governmental organization based in Basel (Switzerland) with the purpose of fighting infection, having for motto: “Promoting science, combating infections”. In that sense, it develops multiple training initiatives and supports research projects in order to improve the clinical practices of prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Since its opening, in February 2012, HBA has its own team of infection prevention and control. This is a priority area in Grupo Luz Saúde, which has a specific committee also coordinated by Carlos Palos.
