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Gunn Julia

We report on a retrospective analysis of gastrointestinal syndrome definitions based on chief complaints and ICD9 diagnosis for gastroenteritis during the 2006-07 season of increased norovirus activity.

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Submitted by elamb on

To compare age-group-specific correlation of influenza-like syndrome (ILS) emergency department (ED) visits with influenza laboratory data in Boston and NYC using locally defined ILS definitions.

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Submitted by elamb on

To compare locally-developed influenza-like syndrome definitions (derived from emergency department (ED) chief complaints) when applied to data from two ISDS DiSTRIBuTE Project participants: Boston and New York City (NYC) [1].

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Submitted by elamb on

The incidence of and hospitalizations for SSTI have steadily increased over the last decade in the United States, primarily due to the emergence and spread of community acquired Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA). The ED is a common site for SSTI treatment and serves populations not captured by traditional surveillance, including the homeless and uninsured. The use of near real-time syndromic surveillance within the ED to detect unusual activity for further public health investigation has been used to augment traditional infectious disease surveillance. However, the use of this approach for monitoring local epidemiologic trends in SSTI presentation where laboratory data are not available, has not previously been described.

 

Objective

We sought to describe the epidemiology of emergency department (ED) visits for skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) in an urban area with diverse neighborhood populations using syndromic surveillance system data for the time period from 2007-2011. Our aims were threefold: to demonstrate a proof of concept using syndromic surveillance for SSTI surveillance in the absence of laboratory data, to estimate the burden of ED visits associated with SSTI, and to determine potential geographic “hotspots” for these infections.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on

The compliance date for the ICD9-ICD10 transition is October 1, 2015. The hospitals have started the ICD9-ICD10 transition. However, not all data providers will transition the data at the same time. In order to facilitate some coherence to the data during this transition period, user interface and data processing functionalities have been developed in ESSENCE to allow usage of both classification systems simultaneously. This capability will allow users to perform ICD10- based queries across all the hospitals in their system, irrespective of the exact number of hospitals that have completed the ICD10 transition.

Objective

To help users seamlessly query and analyze data in disease surveillance systems using both ICD9 and ICD10 codes during the transition period. Additionally, the mappings between ICD9 and ICD10 codes must be flexible enough to support locally required changes based upon a user’s needs.

Submitted by rmathes on

Expert panelists Art Davidson (Denver Health) and Julia Gunn (Boston Public Health Commission), whose respective organizations were 2009 Davies Awards recipients, gave a 30 minute webinar on Meaningful Use and electronic health record technology. This webinar aimed to assist attendees in gaining a better understanding of Meaningful Use, how it may impact their surveillance work, and how they can work with ISDS to represent their perspectives and that of their local or state health agencies.

A webinar hosted by the ISDS and the Distribute Community of Practice on March 5th, 2010.

On May 28th, 2009, the ISDS Research and Public Health Practice Committees hosted a joint panel with the goal of bringing current challenges faced by public health practitioners to the attention of the research community at large. Members of both Committees expressed concern that much current research in disease surveillance has little application for public health practitioners. With an increasing emphasis on health information technology and exchange, public health practitioners need relevant, understandable analytic tools to manage information and make it useful.

Fifteen years have passed since the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 called for the establishment of nationwide surveillance and reporting mechanisms to detect bioterrorism-related events. In the 1990s, several health departments established surveillance systems to detect prediagnostic (ie, before diagnoses are confirmed) signs and symptoms for the early identification of disease occurrences.

Submitted by elamb on

In this webinar Dr. Travers will review two tools developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which aid in processing textual CC’s and triage notes in support of syndromic surveillance. Textual data from emergency departments (EDs) is a common source of data for syndromic surveillance. In the last few years the adoption of electronic health records systems in EDs has improved the availability of timely electronic data from EDs for secondary uses however using these data for syndrome surveillance can still be problematic.

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