Implementation of a Facility Based County Surveillance System Using Epi Info

Autor: Michael Wiese, Samantha Spoto, Michelle Lyman
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: Online Journal of Public Health Informatics
ISSN: 1947-2579
1532-5415
Popis: Objective The Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County (DOH-Hillsborough) routinely reviews the ESSENCE-FL system to assess syndromic trends in emergency department (ED) and urgent care data (UCC). Collection of this type of symptom data from long term care facilities (LTCFs) and child care centers is of interest in order to better understand how these illness patterns present in vulnerable populations outside of the EDs. Introduction Surveillance in nursing homes (Enserink et al., 2011) and day care facilities (Enserink et al., 2012) has been conducted in the Netherlands, but is not commonly practiced in the United States (Buehler et al., 2008). Outbreaks of illnesses within these facilities are required to be reported to the Epidemiology Program, however a small fraction of outbreaks reported come from LTCFs. Without regular communication between LTCFs and the Epidemiology Program, it is likely that many outbreaks are going unreported due to lack of awareness of the reporting requirements by facility staff. To better understand the prevalence of illness in LTCFs and improve communication between LTCFs and DOH-Hillsborough a weekly surveillance survey was created using Epi Info web survey. Methods The online facility search tool from the Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) was used to query assisted living facilities and nursing homes in Hillsborough County in July 2017. The information provided included the number of beds a facility is licensed to have. Interest in participation was solicited from larger LTCFs within the county in August 2017 and 23 facilities volunteered to receive weekly surveys, with a total volume of 3,276 beds. A form was created in Epi Info to capture weekly information per facility of the number of residents and staff with new onset of various symptoms. Symptom groups include GI, rash, respiratory, and those with respiratory symptoms who also have a fever (to assess influenza-like illness); number of positive flu tests for the week is also asked. Starting with week 38, an email has been sent once a week to participating facilities with a link to the Epi Info web survey (Figure 1) and instructions to fill out the information for the previous week. Results To date, 12 weeks of information has successfully been captured in Epi Info and transferred to Microsoft Excel for graphical visualization of percentage of residents/staff reported each week in the county with new onset of the above symptoms. Low levels of illness (
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: