Effectiveness of screening for endemic antibiotic resistant organisms (AROs) in hospital settings

The overall quality of the systematic reviews varied widely with AMSTAR scores ranging from 3 to 9. The highest quality reviews (that is, those described in the greatest detail and using the most rigorous methods) were the reviews conducted under the auspices of national HTA agencies, the United States Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in [...] Five of the reviews mentioned explicitly the difficulty in drawing causal conclusions regarding the effects of screening because of the many components included in the interventions and the study designs employed. [...] The strengths of the trial include its large size and rigorous design; potential weaknesses of the study include questions about the generalizability of the results, long term impact, and risk of inducing mupirocin resistance. [...] The main objectives of the conference are as follows: (1) determine the “state of the science” through a literature review and the consensus building process, and (2) transfer of the latest knowledge/evidence on the subject to a broad audience of public sector decision-makers and subsequently impacting public policy, design of services, research priorities, and health system practice. [...] The objective of this review was to summarize the currently available scientific evidence on the potential benefits and harms of screening (universal or targeted) for carriage of AROs (Appendix 1) in inpatient or outpatient settings and to include any primary studies on screening that were not included in the systematic reviews.