Biosurveillance systems commonly use emergency department (ED) patient chief complaint data (CC) for surveillance of influenza-like illness (ILI). Daily volumes are tracked using a computerized patient CC classifier for fever (CC Fever) to identify febrile patients. Limitations in this method have led to efforts to identify other sources of ED data. At many EDs the triage nurse measures the patient’s temperature on arrival and records it in the electronic medical record. This makes it possible to directly identify patients who meet the CDC temperature criteria for ILI: temperature greater than 100 degrees F (T>100F).
Objective
To evaluate whether a classifier based on temperature >100F would perform similarly to CC Fever and might identify additional patients.