The Northwest Public Health Information Exchange’s Accomplishments in Connecting a Health Information Exchange with Public Health

In 2007 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Request for Proposal for the “Situational Awareness through Health Information Exchange” project. The Situational Awareness project’s goals are to connect public health with health information exchanges (HIEs) to improve public health’s real-time understanding of communities’ population health and healthcare facility status. During this same time period the Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology released several reports identifying the growing number of communities involved in health information exchange and outlining the requirements for a Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). CDC saw the possibilities of using HIEs and the NHIN to accelerate the real-time sharing of clinical and facility-based resource utilization information to enhance local, state, regional, and federal public health in responding to and managing potentially catastrophic infectious disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies. HIEs would provide a unified view of a patient across health care providers and would serve as data collection points for clinical and resource utilization data while NHIN services and standards would be used to capture HIE data of importance and send those data to public health. This article discusses how automated syndromic surveillance data feeds have proven more stable and representative than existing surveillance data feeds and summarizes other accomplishments of the Northwest Public Health Information Exchange in its contribution to the advancement of the National agenda for sharing interoperable health information with public health.     

The Distribution of Infectious Related Symptoms in an Internet-based Syndromic Surveillance System in Rural China

Objective

To describe the distribution of the infectious related symptoms in an internet-based syndromic surveillance system reported by doctors in village health stations, township and county hospitals in rural Jiangxi Province, China, and to identify the major infectious diseases for syndromic surveillance in different levels of health facility.

Introduction

Syndromic surveillance system, which collects non-specific syndromes in the early stages of disease development, has great advantages in promoting early detection of epidemics and reducing the burden of disease confirmation (1). It is especially effective for surveillance in resource-poor settings, where laboratory confirmation is not possible or practical (2). Integrating syndromic surveillance with traditional case report system may generate timely, effective and sensitive information for early warning and control of infectious diseases in rural China (3). A syndromic surveillance system (ISSC) has been implemented in rural Jiangxi Province of China since August 2011.

Methods

Doctors and health workers in the healthcare surveillance units of ISSC, including village health station, township hospital and county hospital, used an internet-based electronic system to collect information of daily outpatients, which included 10 categories of infectious disease related symptoms, i.e., cough, fever, sore throat, diarrhea, headache, rash, nausea/vomit, mucocutaneous hemorrhage, convulsion and disturbance of consciousness. The data from August 1st to December 31st 2011 were extracted from database and analyzed using SPSS 16.0. The combination of symptoms was also analyzed to identify patients with the syndrome of influenza-like illness (ILI) and fever-gastrointestinal syndrome (FGS). ILI were composed by fever (>=38 degree centigrade) plus cough or fever plus sore throat, and FGS were defined as fever plus vomit or diarrhea.

Results

Two county hospitals (CH), 4 township hospitals (TH) and 50 village health stations (VHS) were selected as surveillance unites in the pilot study during 2011/8/1 to 2011/12/31. In total, 152270 outpatient visits were reported, and 35395 patients had a chief complain of at least one surveillance symptom. Of these symptomatic patients, 24130 (68.2%) were from VHS, 4995 (14.1%) from TH and 6810 (19.2%) from CH. The proportion of patients with targeting symptom accounted for 15.5%, 66.4% and 23.9% of total outpatients in CH, TH and VHS respectively. The first 3 reported symptoms were cough (61.8%), fever (28.4%), and sore throat (23.4%), whereas mucocutaneous hemorrhage, convulsion and disturbance of consciousness were the least frequently reported symptoms in all surveillance units. Overall 3582 ILI and 1160 FGS cases were reported accounting for 35% and 11% of fever cases respectively. Of the reported ILI and FGS cases, 75% ILI and 55.9% FGS cases were reported by health workers in the VHS.

Conclusions

Cough, fever and sore throat were the top surveillance symptoms, and the respiratory infectious diseases had more chance to be reported in syndromic surveillance system in rural Jiangxi Province. Training on infectious disease diagnosis especially respiratory diseases for village health workers should be enhanced since large numbers of patients are likely to visit the village health stations.     

Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE): Overview,Components, and Public Health Applications

BackgroundThe Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE) is a secure web-based tool that enables health care practitioners to monitor health indicators of public health importance for the detection and tracking of disease outbreaks, consequences of severe weather, and other events of concern. The ESSENCE concept began in an internally funded project at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, advanced with funding from the State of Maryland, and broadened in 1999 as a collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research. Versions of the system have been further developed by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in multiple military and civilian programs for the timely detection and tracking of health threats.ObjectiveThis study aims to describe the components and development of a biosurveillance system increasingly coordinating all-hazards health surveillance and infectious disease monitoring among large and small health departments, to list the key features and lessons learned in the growth of this system, and to describe the range of initiatives and accomplishments of local epidemiologists using it.MethodsThe features of ESSENCE include spatial and temporal statistical alerting, custom querying, user-defined alert notifications, geographical mapping, remote data capture, and event communications. To expedite visualization, configurable and interactive modes of data stratification and filtering, graphical and tabular customization, user preference management, and sharing features allow users to query data and view geographic representations, time series and data details pages, and reports. These features allow ESSENCE users to gather and organize the resulting wealth of information into a coherent view of population health status and communicate findings among users.ResultsThe resulting broad utility, applicability, and adaptability of this system led to the adoption of ESSENCE by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, numerous state and local health departments, and the Department of Defense, both nationally and globally. The open-source version of Suite for Automated Global Electronic bioSurveillance is available for global, resource-limited settings. Resourceful users of the US National Syndromic Surveillance Program ESSENCE have applied it to the surveillance of infectious diseases, severe weather and natural disaster events, mass gatherings, chronic diseases and mental health, and injury and substance abuse.ConclusionsWith emerging high-consequence communicable diseases and other health conditions, the continued user requirement–driven enhancements of ESSENCE demonstrate an adaptable disease surveillance capability focused on the everyday needs of public health. The challenge of a live system for widely distributed users with multiple different data sources and high throughput requirements has driven a novel, evolving architecture design.     

Spatial aberration vs. geographical substance: representing place in public health surveillance

Public health surveillance involves the routine and ongoing collection, analysis and dissemination of health information for a variety of stakeholders—including both public health officials and the public. Much of the current focus of public health surveillance is on detecting aberrations in space—largely inspired by concerns about bioterrorism and newly emerging infectious diseases. We argue that the current focus on spatial aberrations has limited the development of public health surveillance by excluding a more explicit geographical understanding and representation of place. A more place-focused public health surveillance could represent geography in ways that are useful to a broader audience, provide information on the social and physical contexts related to health, facilitate a better understanding of health inequalities, and can benefit from local knowledge. Geographers can make important contributions to public health practice by contributing to more meaningful definitions of place in the design and operation of public health surveillance systems.     

Social Media and Internet‐Based Data in Global Systems for Public Health Surveillance: A Systematic Review

Context: The exchange of health information on the Internet has been heralded as an opportunity to improve public health surveillance. In a field that has traditionally relied on an established system of mandatory and voluntary reporting of known infectious diseases by doctors and laboratories to governmental agencies, innovations in social media and so-called user-generated information could lead to faster recognition of cases of infectious disease. More direct access to such data could enable surveillance epidemiologists to detect potential public health threats such as rare, new diseases or early-level warnings for epidemics. But how useful are data from social media and the Internet, and what is the potential to enhance surveillance? The challenges of using these emerging surveillance systems for infectious disease epidemiology, including the specific resources needed, technical requirements, and acceptability to public health practitioners and policymakers, have wide-reaching implications for public health surveillance in the 21st century.Methods: This article divides public health surveillance into indicator-based surveillance and event-based surveillance and provides an overview of each. We did an exhaustive review of published articles indexed in the databases PubMed, Scopus, and Scirus between 1990 and 2011 covering contemporary event-based systems for infectious disease surveillance.Findings: Our literature review uncovered no event-based surveillance systems currently used in national surveillance programs. While much has been done to develop event-based surveillance, the existing systems have limitations. Accordingly, there is a need for further development of automated technologies that monitor health-related information on the Internet, especially to handle large amounts of data and to prevent information overload. The dissemination to health authorities of new information about health events is not always efficient and could be improved. No comprehensive evaluations show whether event-based surveillance systems have been integrated into actual epidemiological work during real-time health events.Conclusions: The acceptability of data from the Internet and social media as a regular part of public health surveillance programs varies and is related to a circular challenge: the willingness to integrate is rooted in a lack of effectiveness studies, yet such effectiveness can be proved only through a structured evaluation of integrated systems. Issues related to changing technical and social paradigms in both individual perceptions of and interactions with personal health data, as well as social media and other data from the Internet, must be further addressed before such information can be integrated into official surveillance systems.     

The U.S.-Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance project: establishing bi-national border surveillance

In 1997, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Mexican Secretariat of Health, and border health officials began the development of the Border Infectious Disease Surveillance (BIDS) project, a surveillance system for infectious diseases along the U.S.-Mexico border. During a 3-year period, a binational team implemented an active, sentinel surveillance system for hepatitis and febrile exanthems at 13 clinical sites. The network developed surveillance protocols, trained nine surveillance coordinators, established serologic testing at four Mexican border laboratories, and created agreements for data sharing and notification of selected diseases and outbreaks. BIDS facilitated investigations of dengue fever in Texas-Tamaulipas and measles in California-Baja California. BIDS demonstrates that a binational effort with local, state, and federal participation can create a regional surveillance system that crosses an international border. Reducing administrative, infrastructure, and political barriers to cross-border public health collaboration will enhance the effectiveness of disease prevention projects such as BIDS.     

The Organizational Structures and Human Resources Allocation of Infectious Disease Surveillance System in Rural China

Objective

To understand the structure and capacity of current infection disease surveillance system, and to provide baseline information for developing syndromic surveillance system in rural China.

Introduction

To meet the long-term needs of public health and social development of China, it is in urgency to establish a comprehensive response system and crisis management mechanism for public health emergencies. Syndromic surveillance system has great advantages in promoting early detection of epidemics and reducing the burden of disease outbreak confirmation (1). The effective method to set up the syndromic surveillance system is to modify existing case report system, improve the organizational structures and integrate new function with the traditional system.

Methods

Since August 2011, an integrated syndromic surveillance project (ISSC) has been implemented in China. Before the launching of the project, a cross-sectional study was carried out in Fengxin County and Yongxiu County of Jiangxi province during October 11 to 18, 2010. Institution information were investigated in the county hospital, township hospital and County Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to understand the performance of existing case report system for notifiable infectious diseases with regard to its structure, capacity and data collection procedure. Health care workers from each township hospital and village health station were questionnaire interviewed for information on qualification of human resources, basic healthcare delivery condition, hardware and software needs for ISSC.

Results

An internet-based real-time (quasi real-time) case report system for notifiable infectious diseases, based on the three-tier public health service System, had been established in these two counties since 2004. The farthest end of net user in case report system was township hospital. Blood routine test, urine routine test, B ultrasound and electrocardiogram were available in all township hospitals. There was no laboratory equipment in village health stations in these two counties. All the township hospitals in these two counties were equipped with land-line telephones and desktop computers. The internet covers all township hospitals in both counties. Most clinical doctors in township hospital(TH) and village health station(VHS) were male. The age of doctors ranged from 21 to 72 years old, with the average at 42 and median at 40 years. The village health workers were significantly older, less educated and served in health care longer than the township hospital doctors. In Yongxiu County, 95.6% of the village health stations were equipped with computers, including private-owned computers, and 80.7% of them had access to the internet; while in Fengxin County, 66.5% of the village health stations possessed computers, among which most were private property of village doctors, and only 44.2% of them had access to the internet.

Conclusions

The current case report system, with full coverage and stable human resource, has established a solid basis for developing syndromic surveillance system in rural China. The syndromic surveillance system could play its role in early detection of infectious disease outbreaks in rural area where laboratory service for infectious disease diagnosis are not available. However, the lack of computerized patient registration in village and township health care facilities and incomplete internet coverage in rural area and relatively low quality of human resource in village level should be taken into consideration seriously before establishing the syndromic surveillance system in rural China.     

Food Safety Informatics: A Public Health Imperative

To date, little has been written about the implementation of utilizing food safety informatics as a technological tool to protect consumers, in real-time, against foodborne illnesses. Food safety outbreaks have become a major public health problem, causing an estimated 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. Yet, government inspectors/regulators that monitor foodservice operations struggle with how to collect, organize, and analyze data; implement, monitor, and enforce safe food systems. Currently, standardized technologies have not been implemented to efficiently establish “near-in-time” or “just-in-time” electronic awareness to enhance early detection of public health threats regarding food safety. To address the potential impact of collection, organization and analyses of data in a foodservice operation, a wireless food safety informatics (FSI) tool was pilot tested at a university student foodservice center. The technological platform in this test collected data every six minutes over a 24 hour period, across two primary domains: time and temperatures within freezers, walk-in refrigerators and dry storage areas. The results of this pilot study briefly illustrated how technology can assist in food safety surveillance and monitoring by efficiently detecting food safety abnormalities related to time and temperatures so that efficient and proper response in “real time” can be addressed to prevent potential foodborne illnesses.     

武汉市症状监测医院医务人员对症状监测工作的认识研究

目的 研究医务人员对症状监测工作的认识.方法 采取定性研究方法,在武汉市承担的卫生部/WHO"提高突发公共卫生事件早期预警能力项目-提高呼吸道传染病早期发病能力"现场监测工作结束后,就监测点医院项目参与人员对症状监测的认识、项目实施过程中存在的问题等情况等进行了调查.结果 医务人员认为症状监测能在早期预警中发挥重要的作用,是传统疾病监测的重要补充;但在完全手工登记、报告的情况下,在门诊量大的医院较难坚持.结论 与医院信息系统结合的电子化监测应成为症状监测发展方向.     

Monitoring Effect of Human Papillomavirus Vaccines in US Population,Emerging Infections Program, 2008–2012

In 2007, five Emerging Infections Program (EIP) sites were funded to determine the feasibility of establishing a population-based surveillance system for monitoring the effect of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine on pre-invasive cervical lesions. The project involved active population-based surveillance of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grades 2 and 3 and adenocarcinoma in situ as well as associated HPV types in women >18 years of age residing in defined catchment areas; collecting relevant clinical information and detailed HPV vaccination histories for women 18–39 years of age; and estimating the annual rate of cervical cancer screening among the catchment area population. The first few years of the project provided key information, including data on HPV type distribution, before expected effect of vaccine introduction. The project’s success exemplifies the flexibility of EIP’s network to expand core activities to include emerging surveillance needs beyond acute infectious diseases. Project results contribute key information regarding the impact of HPV vaccination in the United States.     

传染病暴发或流行的探测、监测和预警

传染病继续成为全球发病死亡主要原因之一,影响公众健康生命、社会经济发展甚至国家安全。早期探测重点是及时、敏感地发现传染病暴发流行异常信息,并进行现场调查和核实,也是有效监测、预警系统的前期;有效监测、预警系统能够全面准确地认识特定传染病暴发流行可能发生的事实条件、驱动因素和传播链,并提出科学有效预防控制策略措施;因衡量收集具体数据的资源支撑和价值大小,难以及时、完整、准确地获得流行病学、病原学等数据信息。本文综述传染病早期探测、有效监测、有效预警理论技术,整合利用中国有效传染病监测预警体系和多时空节点触发与多学科渠道监测暴发流行情况、病因、风险、过程和驱动因素的多源数据,构建运行敏感特异、分期度量的中国（急性）传染病监测、预警和响应创新技术体系,为加强新发重大传染病和传染病突发公共卫生事件监测预警、避免应对不力传染病蔓延与防止过度响应资源浪费提供依据。     

传染病智慧化症状监测的进展与挑战

智慧化症状监测是我国传染病智慧化预警多点触发和多渠道预警体系的重要组成部分,是传统症状监测在新技术发展下的必然路径。智慧化症状监测不仅包括医院就诊患者的大量医疗数据,还囊括未在医院就诊、海量的非医疗数据。然而,发展的同时也迎来了挑战,如信息爆炸、成本-效益问题以及数据共享、数据安全和隐私问题。本文通过对智慧化症状监测相关概念发展的思考和总结,为传染病智慧化预警方法与技术的发展提供参考,为我国和全球传染病防控提供新思路。     

Utility of Syndromic Surveillance Using Novel Clinical Data Sources

Objective

To document the current evidence base for the use of electronic health record (EHR) data for syndromic surveillance using emergency department, urgent care clinic, hospital inpatient, and ambulatory clinical care data.

Introduction

Historically, syndromic surveillance has primarily involved the use of near real-time data sent from hospital emergency department (EDs) and urgent care (UC) clinics to public health agencies. The use of data from inpatient and ambulatory settings is now gaining interest and support throughout the United States, largely as a result of the Stage 2 and 3 Meaningful Use regulations [1]. Questions regarding the feasibility and utility of applying a syndromic approach to these data sources are hampering the development of systems to collect, analyze, and share this potentially valuable information. Solidifying the evidence base and communicating the results to the public health surveillance community may help to initiate and build support for using these data to advance surveillance functions.

Methods

We conducted a literature search in the published and grey literature that scanned for relevant articles in the Google Scholar, Pub Med, and EBSCO Information Services databases. Search terms included: “inpatient/ambulatory electronic health record”; “ambulatory/inpatient/hospital/outpatient/chronic disease syndromic surveillance”; and “EHR syndromic surveillance”. Information gleaned from each article included data use, data elements extracted, and data quality indicators. In addition, several stakeholders who provided input on the September 2012 ISDS Recommendations [2] also provided articles that were incorporated into the literature review.ISDS also invited speakers from existing inpatient and ambulatory syndromic surveillance systems to give webinar presentations on how they are using data from these novel sources.

Results

The number of public health agencies (PHAs) routinely receiving ambulatory and inpatient syndromic surveillance data is substantially smaller than the number receiving ED and UC data. Some health departments, private medical organizations (including HMOs), and researchers are conducting syndromic surveillance and related research with health data captured in these clinical settings [2].In inpatient settings, many of the necessary infrastructure and analytic tools are already in place. Syndromic surveillance with inpatient data has been used for a range of innovative uses, from monitoring trends in myocardial infarction in association with risk factors for cardiovascular disease [3] to tracking changes in incident-related hospitalizations following the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado [3].In contrast, ambulatory systems face a need for new infrastructure, as well as pose a data volume challenge. The existing systems vary in how they address data volume and what types of encounters they capture. Ambulatory data has been used for a variety of uses, from monitoring gastrointestinal infectious disease [3], to monitoring behavioral health trends in a population, while protecting personal identities [4].

Conclusions

The existing syndromic surveillance systems and substantial research in the area indicate an interest in the public health community in using hospital inpatient and ambulatory clinical care data in new and innovative ways. However, before inpatient and ambulatory syndromic surveillance systems can be effectively utilized on a large scale, the gaps in knowledge and the barriers to system development must be addressed. Though the potential use cases are well documented, the generalizability to other settings requires additional research, workforce development, and investment.     

农村地区建立传染病症状监测系统的可行性——以江西省2县为例

目的：从村卫生室服务能力入手,探索在农村地区建立传染病症状监测系统的可行性。方法：通过问卷调查和小组访谈分析江西省2个县15个乡镇155家村卫生室的资源配置以及253名村医开展传染病症状监测的能力,以及相应的期望和建议。结果：“一村一所”管理模式下的村卫生室门诊量大,病人集中,更适合症状监测的开展;网络直报是症状监测数据报告的首选方式,但有12．5％的村卫生室负责人不会使用电脑;村医接触最多的五种传染性疾病是上感、其他感染性腹泻、流行性腮腺炎、水痘和痢疾,分别有84．6％和71．5％的村医能够通过临床症状诊断流行性腮腺炎和水痘;75．9％的村医发现传染病人后会立即报告乡镇卫生院,77．1％的村医参与过传染病的调查核实。结论：依托村卫生室构建传染病症状监测系统具有可行性,但需完善村卫生室管理模式,提高卫生服务可及性;明确目标监测疾病,促进资源的有效利用;充分利用信息网络技术,搭建症状监测报告平台;大力推进乡村一体化管理,完善监测信号响应机制。     

上海市长宁区重点传染病症状监测预警信息系统介绍

[目的]建立上海市长宁区重点传染性疾病症状监测预警信息系统,探索数据采集、阈值建立、异常信号识别的方法与机制。[方法]选择医院、学校作为监测点,以不明原因肺炎、流感样病例、菌痢、霍乱、感染性腹泻、麻疹、水痘、手足口病和乙脑为监测目标疾病,开展相关症候群监测。采用移动百分位数法,计算各症候群的预警阈值。[结果]设计开发了"重点传染病症状监测预警信息系统",具有症候群信息采集、数据导入、预警参数设置、每日预警值计算、异常自动预警、异常信息报告、预警数据查询、用户管理、权限管理等功能。[结论]通过研究,开发了一套电子数据源采集和自动分析预警的软件,形成了系统数据采集、阈值建立、异常信号识别的一套方法与机制。所建立的"重点传染病症状监测预警信息系统"适用于疾病预防控制机构开展症状监测,对于增强传染病预警预测水平,及早发现疫情爆发苗子具有积极意义。     

An Analysis of the Policy Environment Surrounding Noncommunicable Diseases Risk Factor Surveillance in Kenya

Kenya is a developing country in sub-Saharan Africa, facing a triple disease burden, with an increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs); uncontained infectious diseases; coupled with significant morbidity and mortality from environmental causes such as droughts and flooding. The limelight has been on infectious diseases, leaving few resources for NCDs. As NCDs start to gain attention, it is becoming apparent that essential information on their epidemiology and risk factor trends—key in evidence-based decision-making—is lacking. As a consequence, policies have long relied on information derived from unreliable data sources such as vital registries and facility-level data, and unrepresentative data from small-scale clinical and academic research. This study analyzed the health policy aspects of NCD risk factor surveillance in Kenya, describing barriers to the successful design and implementation of an NCD risk factor surveillance system, and suggests a strategy best suited for the Kenyan situation. A review of policy documents and publications was augmented by a field-study consisting of interviews of key informants identified as stakeholders. Findings were analyzed using the Walt and Gilson policy analysis triangle. Findings attest that no population baseline NCD burden or risk factor data was available, with a failed WHO STEPs survey in 2005, to be undertaken in 2013. Despite the continued mention of NCD surveillance and the highlighting of its importance in various policy documents, a related strategy is yet to be established. Hurdles ranged from a lack of political attention for NCDs and competing public interests, to the lack of an evidence-based decision making culture and the impact of aid dependency of health programs. Progress in recognition of NCDs was noted and the international community and civil society''s contribution to these achievements documented. While a positive outlook on the future of NCD surveillance were encountered, it is noteworthy that overcoming policy and structural hurdles for continued success is imperative.     

国境口岸加强对裂谷热早期预警的措施探讨

目的 裂谷热是由蚊子传播的,以急性、高热为特征的病毒性人畜共患病,OIE将其列为A类传染病.目前我国尚未有感染裂谷热的报道,但是该病的全球扩散形势依然严峻.方法 对建立安全高效的动物卫生监测体系和裂谷热气候模型两种预警措施进行简单的综述.结果 裂谷热在动物发病情况优先于人体发病,因此建立动物卫生监测系统早期预警机制效果显著,同时利用裂谷热媒介生物条件特异性可以通过卫星遥感技术建立气候模型进行早期预警.结论 国境口岸加强对裂谷热的早期预警能够及时地监测疫病的发展趋势,对有关部门采取相应措施来防止疫病的入侵具有十分重要的意义.     

学校症状监测系统预警传染病爆发的实例研究

目的研究一起学校水痘爆发实例,对比传染病报告数据,分析学校"因病缺课症状监测系统"的监测结果,探讨该系统在传染病短期预警方面的作用。方法应用描述流行病学方法,对水痘疫情发生过程中的症状监测资料和传染病报告资料进行时间分布描述,结合时序图研究各种被监测症状的波动与疫情变化之间相互关系。结果症状监测资料的非特异症状(发热)曲线呈双峰分布,特异症状(出疹)曲线呈单峰,两者出现异常信号均早于传统传染病监测。症状监测资料探查的疾病流行过程较为全面,可完整表现疫情的发生阶段、引入阶段和爆发阶段,有利于及时采取措施控制疫情。结论学校"因病缺课症状监测系统"的监测和短期预警效果优于传统监测,但症状收集技术、双峰分布现象、最敏感症状的选取等都有待进一步研究。     

A Web-based Electronic Health Record System for National Surveillance

Objective

This showcase aims to demonstrate the viability of Practice Fusion’s web-based electronic health record system for national surveillance. Practice Fusion also wishes to provide aggregate data to public health departments for surveillance for free. This showcase also hopes to engage those potential partners around uses of the company’s research database.

Introduction

Practice Fusion is a web-based electronic health record system with over 150,000 medical professional users treating over 50 million patients. The company focuses on small, ambulatory practices and is predominately comprised of practices in the field of primary care. The user base makes it an ideal system for public health surveillance. The Research Division has undertaken pilot projects to demonstrate the viability of using the data for surveillance for acute diseases, like influenza-like illness, chronic diseases, like diabetes, and risk factors, like hypertension.

Methods

Surveillance systems based on electronic health records have clear advantages over case based reporting, but the majority of those systems are limited to the small geographical area affiliated with the hospital or health plan associated with the project. Practice Fusion has coverage in all 50 states and runs on a single, multi-tenant database making comparisons across those states and the localities within them immediately feasible. The company wishes to engage the organizations represented at ISDS in order to advance public health surveillance using the research database. It is very difficult to obtain electronic health record data currently, but with the appropriate data use agreement Practice Fusion believes that it is a moral imperative to use its aggregate data for surveillance. The Research Division has developed methods for the surveillance of influenza-like illness with its system and comparisons to the CDC have proven its viability.

Conclusions

By comparing trends and levels of influenza-like illness generated from Practice Fusion’s research database to Google Flu Trends and the gold standard estimates produced by the CDC, web-based electronic health record systems have proved to be a viable foundation for syndromic surveillance. The implementation of the system also shows that case definitions for surveillance need not be overly simplistic if they do not require cases to be submitted from physicians, but rather can be programmed to be identified through automated algorithms.