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Soetebier Karl

Timeliness of emergency room (ER) data is arguably its strongest attribute in terms of its contribution to disease surveillance. Timely data analyses may improve the efficacy of prevention and control measures. There are a number of studies that have looked at timeliness prior to the advent of Meaningful Use, and these studies note that ER data were not fast enough for them to be useful in real time2,3. However, the change in messaging practices in the Meaningful Use era potentially changes this. Other studies have shown that changes in processes and protocol can dramatically improve timeliness1,4 and this motivates the current study of timeliness to identify processes that can be changed to improve timeliness.

Objective:

To explore the timeliness of emergency room surveillance data after the advent of federal Meaningful Use initiatives and determine potential areas for improvement.

Submitted by elamb on

During an emergency, the state of Georgia depends on public health staff and volunteers to respond. It is imperative that staff are safe before, during and after deployment. Emergency response workers must be protected from the hazardous conditions that disasters and other emergencies create1. In October 2016 and September 2017, Hurricanes Matthew and Irma caused widespread evacuation of Georgia residents, initiating a tremendous sheltering effort. Hundreds of public health responders were deployed to assist with sheltering and other aspects of the response. DPH rapidly developed a novel electronic Responder Safety, Tracking and Resilience module, which was used to track public health responders and monitor their health and safety while deployed.

Objective:

To better understand the importance of monitoring responders during public health emergencies and to learn how the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) developed and deployed an electronic responder monitoring tool.

Submitted by elamb on

The Syndromic Surveillance Program (SSP) of the Georgia Department of Public Health collects chief complaint data from hospitals to characterize health trends in near real time. These data were critical for situational awareness during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. In 2012, SSP and the Effingham County Schools began a project to collect syndromic surveillance data from school clinics. The hypothesis was that these data may be used to inform interventions during a pandemic, guide school health programs, elucidate health priorities in school-age populations, and quantify nursing staff needs in schools. Analysis of data from the first two pilot years has provided a novel look at the disparate burden of disease among students across schools in the county.

Objective

This project was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of schoolbased nurse clinic visit syndromic surveillance. Additional objectives include using clinic visit data to identify opportunities for health interventions at participating schools and to characterize the type and number of student visits to the school nurses. An electronic module was developed in the State Electronic Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (SendSS) to facilitate data entry by participating school nurses and data management by the Georgia Department of Public Health.

 

Submitted by Magou on

DPH uses its State Electronic Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (SendSS) Syndromic Surveillance (SS) Module to collect, analyze and display results of emergency department patient chief complaint data from hospitals throughout Georgia.

Objective

Describe how the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) uses syndromic surveillance to initiate review by District Epidemiologists (DEs) to events that may warrant a public health response (1).

Submitted by Magou on

Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) epidemiologists have responded to multiple emergent outbreaks with diverse surveillance needs. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza response, it was necessary to electronically integrate multiple reporting sources and view population-level data, while during the 2014–2015 West African Ebola epidemic, it was necessary to easily collect and view individual level data from travelers to facilitate early detection of potential imported Ebola disease. DPH in-house information technology (IT) staff work closely with epidemiologists to understand and accommodate surveillance needs. Through this collaboration, IT created a robust electronic surveillance and outbreak management system (OMS) to accommodate routine reporting of notifiable diseases and outbreak investigations, and surveillance during emergent events.

Objective

To describe how flexible surveillance systems can be rapidly adapted and deployed, and increase the efficiency and accuracy of surveillance, during responses to outbreaks and all hazard emergent events.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on
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