Epidemiological information realized by modern disease surveillance systems offers great potential for supporting clinical decision-making. Providing health practitioners with population-based, pathogen-specific information about regional communicable infectious disease epidemiology can engender enhanced knowledge about specific pathogens, which may, in turn, lead to improved clinical performance. To enhance the pathogen-specificity of Utah’s surveillance system, which includes tracking syndromes and notifiable diseases, we developed a system that tracks microbiologic testing in Utah’s largest health care delivery system.
Objective
The objective of this study is to describe a system 'Germ Watch' that provides information about the regional activity of common communicable infectious diseases.