A Consensus Development Conference Model for Establishing Health Policy for Surveillance and Screening of Antimicrobial-Resistant Organisms

The Canadian Consensus Development Conference on Surveillance and Screening for Antimicrobial-Resistant Organisms (AROs) was sponsored by the Alberta Ministry of Health to provide evidence to update policies for ARO screening in acute care settings. A rigorous evidence-based literature review completed before the conference concluded that that neither universal nor targeted screening of patients was associated with a reduction in hospital-acquired ARO colonization, infection, morbidity, or mortality. Leading international clinicians, scientists, academics, policy makers, and administrators presented current evidence and clinical experience, focusing on whether and how hospitals should screen patients for AROs as part of broader ARO control strategies. An unbiased and independent "jury" with a broad base of expertise from complementary disciplines considered the evidence and released a consensus statement of 22 recommendations. Policy highlights included developing an integrated "One Health" strategy, fully resourcing basic infection control practices, not performing universal screening, and focusing original research to determine what works.