Assessing the Impact of Syndromic Surveillance Systems on Routine Public Health Practice: Identifying and Evaluating Syndromic Signals

We describe the development and implementation of a protocol for identifying syndromic signals and for assessing their value to public health departments for routine (non-bioterrorism) purposes. The specific objectives of the evaluation are to determine the predictive value positive, sensitivity, and timeliness of the surveillance system, as well as its costs and benefits to public health.