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Information Sharing

Description

Intense stress can severely degrade one's ability to process and utilize new kinds of information.1 This psychological phenomena may partially explain why epidemiologist are challenged to communicate and establish the value of SyS information with emergency management professionals (EMPs). Despite the timely and useful insights that SyS data and methods can provide, it is very difficult to convey what these data are when EMPs and epidemiologists are working to make intense, highly-scrutinized and high-consequence emergency decisions. If state and local authorities want emergency plans and responses that benefit from the powerful insights that SyS can provide, epidemiologists need to learn how to best report information and establish a strong rapport before emergencies strike. Over the past ten months, ISDS’s NSSP’s Syndromic Surveillance and Public Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery (SPHERR) Committee has worked to identify gaps, potential best practices, document use cases, and identify tools for integration of SyS data in EM activities. During SPHERR practice exchange meetings, SyS professionals have consistently cited effective communication between SyS staff and emergency preparedness staff as a top priority in integrating SyS more fully into all phases of emergencies.

Objective: Identify and document strategies that enhance the value of syndromic surveillance (SyS) data and information for the response, recovery, mitigation and preparedness needs of local and state emergency management professionals in the U.S.

Submitted by elamb on

This document, issued on March 7, 2016, provides a template for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for secure, electronic exchange of immunization information among governmental entities that operate a population-based Immunization Information System (IIS). It suggests terms and conditions that might be included in an MOU. However, laws that govern IIS vary among jurisdictions and modification may be needed to address specific laws.

Submitted by ctong on
Description

Integration of information from multiple disparate and heterogeneous sources is a labor and resource intensive task. Heterogeneity can come about in the way data is represented or in the meaning of data in different contexts. Semantic Web technologies have been proposed to address both representational and semantic heterogeneity in distributed and collaborative environments. We introduce an automated semantic information integration platform for public health surveillance using RDF and the Simple Knowledge Organization Standard developed by the Semantic Web community.

 

OBJECTIVE

This paper proposes the use of Semantic Web technologies to integrate heterogeneous data generated by disparate systems for public health use.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Final Four-associated events culminated in four days of intense activity from March 31st through April 3rd, and added an estimated 400,000 visitors to Maricopa County's 4.2 million residents.

Objective:

To describe and present results for the enhanced epidemiologic surveillance system established during the 2017 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Men’s College Basketball Championship (Final Four) events.

Submitted by elamb on