What is admission screening?

C. auris and CPOs can cause rare but serious drug-resistant infections. We are asking healthcare facilities to take proactive steps to protect Oregonians by screening patients when they are admitted for an overnight stay and testing those who meet the criteria.

The recommendation:

Hospitals develop screening criteria based on their available resources and local epidemiology. OHA recommended screening criteria are to perform colonization testing on patients with the following exposures in the past 12 months:

• spent the night in a healthcare facility (hospital or long-term care) outside Oregon (including outside the United States), or
• outpatient surgery outside the United States and Canada, or
• hemodialysis outside the United States and Canada

Testing is provided at no cost to facilities or patients.

Who does it apply to?

• Acute Care Hospitals (ACHs)

• Long-term Acute Care Hospitals (LTACH)

• Ventilator-capable Skilled Nursing Facilities (vSNFs)

These facility types are most likely to encounter people who are at the highest risk of acquiring C. auris or a CPO.

Why are we recommending it?

Finding these germs early allows healthcare staff to take steps to prevent the spread of these germs and keep other patients safe. In Oregon, these germs are rare, but in other parts of the country, these germs are much more prevalent. These germs are hard to treat and can cause serious illness and death, so screening patients early will help us prevent more infections and keep these germs from spreading in Oregon facilities.

Participating Facilities

By participating in admission screening, facilities demonstrate their commitment to the safety of their patients and the prevention of these pathogens from becoming endemic in Oregon.

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