While early event detection systems aim to detect disease outbreaks before traditional means, following up on the many alerts generated by these systems can be time-consuming and a drain on limited resources.
Authorized users at local, regional and state levels in North Carolina rely on the North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool's (NC DETECT) Java-based Web application to monitor and follow-up on signals based on the CDC’s EARS CUSUM algorithms. The application provides users with access to aggregate syndrome-based reports as well as to patient-specific line listing reports for three data sources: emergency departments, ambulance runs and the statewide poison control center. All NC DETECT Web functionality is developed in a user-centered, iterative process with user feedback guiding enhancements and new development. This feedback, along with the need for improved situational awareness and the desire to improve communication among users drove the development of the Annotation Reports and the Custom Event Report.
Objective
We describe the addition of two reports to NC DETECT designed to improve NC public health situational awareness capability.