In 2004, the BioDefend (BD) syndromic surveillance (SS) system was implemented in Duval County hospitals (Jacksonville, FL). Daily emergency department chief complaints are manually classified and entered into the BD system by triage personnel. As part of a statewide implementation, the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) began collecting data in the Jacksonville area during the winter of 2007-08. ESSENCE uses an automated data collection, chief complaint parsing and analysis process for data management and analysis. The use of two systems during the same period of time in one area provided a unique opportunity to retrospectively analyze characteristics of the BD and ESSENCE systems.
Objective
To compare detection of a community outbreak of influenza-like illness using two SS systems, one using a clinician’s classification of reason for visit and the other using an automated chief complaint parsing algorithm.