The Impact of Standardized Decision Support on Syndromic Surveillance in Alberta

Syndromic surveillance uses pre-diagnostic data to inform communicable disease prevention and control. Among health zones in the province of Alberta, Canada, practices employed by public health when using elementary school illness-cause absenteeism data vary widely.

Objective

The objective of this study was to carry out a mixed-methods evaluation of the ability of standardized supports to improve the usefulness of school absenteeism syndromic surveillance for public health in Alberta.