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Faigen Zachary

Maryland’s electronic surveillance system for the early notification of community-based epidemics (ESSENCE) data includes emergency department visits from all acute care hospitals, over-the-counter medication sales and poison control data that cover all jurisdictions in Maryland. Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) uses ESSENCE daily for the early detection of public health emergencies. DHMH also utilizes ESSENCE for other purposes including situational awareness during high security events, assistance with outbreak investigation and for the H1N1 pandemic.

Objective

The purpose of this paper is to describe how Maryland’s syndromic surveillance system, electronic surveillance system for the early notification of community-based epidemics (ESSENCE), has many utilities including identifying threats, case investigation and situational awareness.

Referenced File
Submitted by uysz on

The summer of 2010 in Maryland was characterized by unusually high temperatures. This type of increased and prolonged heat can potentially make residents sick, and extreme exposure can even kill people at highest risk. Numerous deaths throughout the state were attributed to this heat wave. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene addressed this public health issue by using public messaging and maintaining constant situational awareness through the electronic syndromic surveillance. Thus, the electronic surveillance system for the early notification of community-based epidemics (ESSENCE) was used to monitor heat-related illnesses throughout the state.

 

Objective

This paper describes the use of ESSENCE, a syndromic surveillance system, to monitor heat-related illnesses throughout the state of Maryland during the summer of 2010.

Referenced File
Submitted by hparton on

North Carolina hosted the 2018 FEI WEG in Polk County at the Tryon Equestrian Center in September 2018. Polk County, located in the Mountain region of Western North Carolina, is home to 20,357 people, and the population is widely distributed. Event organizers expected approximately 300,000 to 500,000 people to visit the area, with 800 horses from 71 countries taking part in the games. Providing adequate public health epidemiologic investigations and response for the large scale event in the predominantly rural area presented a challenge. The NC Surveillance & Response Team was created to facilitate enhanced surveillance for significant public health events during the WEG, assist local public health agencies with epidemiologic investigations and response, develop public health risk assessments, and implement control measures. Surveillance data were collected from the North Carolina Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NC EDSS), North Carolina’s and CDC’s National syndromic surveillance systems (NC DETECT and NSSP ESSENCE), Public Health Epidemiologists from Atrium Health and Mission Hospital, and reports from the on-site medical facility (MED-1) at the Tryon Equestrian Center. The data were reviewed and summarized in internal and external situation reports.

Objective: To describe surveillance activities and use of existing state (NC DETECT) and national (NSSP) syndromic surveillance systems during the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) World Equestrian Games (WEG), in Mill Spring, NC from September 11 to September 23, 2018

Submitted by elamb on

Maryland has a powerful syndromic surveillance system, ESSENCE, which is used for the early detection of disease outbreaks, suspicious patterns of illness, and public health emergencies. ESSENCE incorporates traditional and nontraditional health indicators from multiple data sources (emergency department chief complaints, over-the-counter (OTC) medication sales, and poison control center data).

Initially, 15 (30%) acute care hospitals in the National Capital Region and Baltimore Metro Region of the state were sending emergency department (ED) data to ESSENCE. DHMH began planning several years ago to increase the number of hospitals reporting to ESSENCE.

In 2007, Maryland’s Governor introduced a homeland security initiative that outlined 12 Core Goals for A Prepared Maryland. One of core goals was to improve biosurveillance and in 2009, Maryland successfully incorporated 100% (45) acute-care hospitals into ESSENCE. Maryland continues to enhance and improve ESSENCE by incorporating additional data sources such as prescription medication data.

Objective

The purpose of this paper is to describe Maryland’s process of enhancing its Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) by incorporating additional data sources such as prescription medication data.

Referenced File
Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on

The electronic surveillance system for the early notification of community-based epidemics (ESSENCE) is the web-based syndromic surveillance system utilized by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH). ESSENCE utilizes a secure, automated process for the transfer of data to the ESSENCE system that is consistent with federal standards for electronic disease surveillance. Data sources in the Maryland ESSENCE system include ED chief complaints, poison control center calls, over-the-counter (OTC) medication sales, and pharmaceutical transaction data (specifically for anti-bacterial and anti-viral medications). All data sources have statewide coverage and are captured daily in near real-time fashion.

Objective

To examine the trends in prescription antiviral medication transactions and emergency department (ED) visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) and the relationship between these trends.

Referenced File
Submitted by elamb on

The electronic surveillance system for the early notification of community-based epidemics (ESSENCE) is the web-based syndromic surveillance system utilized by DHMH. ESSENCE utilizes a secure, automated process for the transfer of data to the ESSENCE system. Data sources in the Maryland ESSENCE system include emergency department (ED) chief complaints, poison control center calls, over-the-counter (OTC) medication sales, and pharmaceutical transaction data (for certain classes of anti-bacterial and anti-viral medication). All data sources have statewide coverage and are captured daily in near real-time fashion. OIT developed a web based application in conjunction with OP&R to allow the epidemiologists involved in the ESSENCE program to monitor and audit the transfer of this data. The application allows the user to indicate whether or not each data file has been consumed into ESSENCE for any date of the year. The user can edit these daily entries at any time to update the status of the data that has been received. The user may also query the database by data source, date, and date range to generate a report. The database also contains contact information for technical and infection control staff at the hospitals that participate in the ESSENCE program. Finally, the application can also generate reports that detail which users have logged into ESSENCE, when the log-in occurred, and which pages within ESSENCE were visited.

Objective

To describe the application and process developed by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) Office of Preparedness and Response (OP&R) and Office of Information Technology (OIT) for monitoring and auditing the transfer of syndromic surveillance data.

Referenced File
Submitted by elamb on

Presented April 26, 2019.

Description: Join us for this lightning talk webinar experience where you will see multiple examples of data dashboards and learn more about who they were created for, how they were developed, where and when the data is being shared, and what impact the dashboard has had on improving public health practice. We will hear from 5 presenters from around the public health community as they discuss their work on opioid, flu, and general disease surveillance dashboards.

ESSENCE is a web-based syndromic surveillance system utilized by DHMH to detect and track outbreaks, suspicious patterns of illness, public health emergencies, and biological threats. ESSENCE ED chief complaint data is collected daily from 47 emergency departments in Maryland (all 45 acute care hospitals and 2 freestanding emergency medical facilities). A chief complaint in ESSENCE is a free text field that lists the patient’s reason for the ED visit upon arrival at the hospital. Chief complaint data may be comprehensive or abbreviated and may include a single reason or multiple reasons for the ED visit. Medical history may be included in chief complaint data, which can create low specificity (false positive cases). Chief complaint data alone may yield less accurate modeling and lower outbreak detection sensitivity. This analysis evaluates whether counts of chief complaints are appropriate indicators of disease burden for several specific illnesses, by comparing chief complaints to their corresponding discharge diagnoses.

Objective

The state of Maryland has incorporated chief complaint data from 100% of its acute care emergency departments (ED) into the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE). In 2012, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) began using this statewide disease surveillance system to track several specific disease measures including certain chronic diseases. The validity of using ESSENCE ED data to track and analyze these health outcomes was evaluated.

Submitted by knowledge_repo… on

Syndromic surveillance offers the potential for earlier detection of bioterrorism, outbreaks, and other public health emergencies than traditional disease surveillance. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) Office of Preparedness and Response (OP&R) conducts syndromic surveillance using the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE). Since its inception, ESSENCE has been a vital tool for DHMH, providing continuous situational awareness for public health policy decision makers. It has been established in the public health community that syndromic surveillance data, including school absenteeism data, has efficacy in monitoring disease, and specifically, influenza activity. Schools have the potential to play a major role in the spread of disease during an epidemic. Therefore, having school absenteeism data in ESSENCE would provide the opportunity to monitor schools throughout the school year and take appropriate actions to mitigate infections and the spread of disease.

Objective

The state of Maryland has incorporated 100% of its public school systems into a statewide disease surveillance system. This session will discuss the process, challenges, and best practices for expanding the ESSENCE system to include school absenteeism data as part of disease surveillance. It will also discuss the plans that Maryland has for using this new data source, as well as the potential for further expansion.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on

Whether you are planning on attending the ISDS Conference for the first time this December or you have been attending since 2002, the ISDS Scientific Program Committee invites you to discover the 2014 ISDS Conference! This webinar will highlight the abstract submission process, and the Pre-Conference Trainings.

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