Association Between Staff Experience and Effective Tuberculosis Contact Tracing in North Carolina, 2008-2009

AbstractInfectious disease surveillance is often case-based, focused on people diagnosed and their contacts in a predefined time window, and treated as independent across infections. Network analysis of partners and contacts joining multiple investigations and infections can reveal social or temporal trends, providing opportunities for epidemic control within broader networks. We constructed a sociosexual network of all HIV and early syphilis cases and contacts investigated among residents of 11 contiguous counties in North Carolina over a two-year period (2012–2013). We anchored the analysis on new HIV diagnoses (“indexes”), but also included nodes and edges from syphilis investigations that were within the same network component as any new HIV index. After adding syphilis investigations and deduplicating people included in multiple investigations (entity resolution), the final network comprised 1470 people: 569 HIV indexes, 700 contacts to HIV indexes who were not also new cases themselves, and 201 people who were either indexes or contacts in eligible syphilis investigations. Among HIV indexes, nearly half (48%; n = 273) had no located contacts during single-investigation contact tracing, though 25 (9%) of these were identified by other network members and thus not isolated in the final multiple investigation network. Constructing a sociosexual network from cases and contacts across multiple investigations mitigated some effects of unobserved partnerships underlying the HIV epidemic and demonstrated the HIV and syphilis overlap in these networks.

Download Full-text

COVID-19 Data Utilization in North Carolina: A Qualitative Analysis (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.29310 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jenny Rees Patterson ◽

Sharita R Thomas ◽

Donna Shaw ◽

Julie A Hayes ◽

Christopher R Daley ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Decision Making ◽

North Carolina ◽

Data Collection ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Community Education ◽

Public Health Problem ◽

The State ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Data Governance

BACKGROUND As the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-COV-2, medical professionals, technologists, community leaders, and policymakers sought to understand how best to leverage data for public health surveillance, as well as community education. With this complex public health problem, North Carolinians relied on data from state, federal, and global health organizations to increase their understanding of the pandemic and guide decision making. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to describe the role that stakeholders involved in COVID-19-related data played in managing the pandemic in North Carolina. The study investigated the processes used by organizations throughout the state in using, collecting, and reporting COVID-19 data. METHODS The authors used an exploratory qualitative study design to investigate North Carolina’s COVID-19 data collection efforts. To better understand these processes, key informant interviews were conducted with employees from organizations that collected COVID-19 data across the state. The study team developed an interview guide, and interviews were conducted in an open-ended, semi-structured format. Interviews lasted between 30 and 45 minutes and were conducted by data scientists over the online video conferencing platform, Zoom. Data were subsequently analyzed using qualitative data analysis software. RESULTS Results indicated that electronic health records were primary sources of COVID-19 data. Often, data were also used to create dashboards to inform the public or other health professionals, to aid in decision making, or for reporting purposes. Cross-sector collaboration was cited as a major success in the study. Consistency among metrics and data definitions, data collection processes, and contact tracing were cited as challenges. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that, during future outbreaks, organizations across regions could benefit from data centralization and data governance. Data should be publicly accessible and in a user-friendly format. Additionally, established cross-sector collaboration networks are demonstrably beneficial for public health professionals across the state as these established relationships facilitate a rapid response to evolving public health challenges.

Download Full-text

The Souls Economy: Market Society and Selfhood in American Thought, 18201920. By Jeffrey Sklansky. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. Pp. xiii, 313. $45.00, cloth; $19.95, paper.

The Journal of Economic History ◽

10.1017/s0022050703542309 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

pp. 903-905

Author(s):

STEPHEN T. ZILIAK

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

University Of North Carolina ◽

Market Society ◽

Chapel Hill ◽

American Thought

Download Full-text

Between ‘Savage Man’ and ‘Most Faithful Englishman’ Manteo and the Early Anglo-Indian Exchange, 1584–1590

Itinerario ◽

10.1017/s0165115300044545 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 146-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael Leroy Oberg

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Chesapeake Bay ◽

One Year ◽

Anglo Indian

In August of 1587 Manteo, an Indian from Croatoan Island, joined a group of English settlers in an attack on the native village of Dasemunkepeuc, located on the coast of present-day North Carolina. These colonists, amongst whom Manteo lived, had landed on Roanoke Island less than a month before, dumped there by a pilot more interested in hunting Spanish prize ships than in carrying colonists to their intended place of settlement along the Chesapeake Bay. The colonists had hoped to re-establish peaceful relations with area natives, and for that reason they relied upon Manteo to act as an interpreter, broker, and intercultural diplomat. The legacy of Anglo-Indian bitterness remaining from Ralph Lane's military settlement, however, which had hastily abandoned the island one year before, was too great for Manteo to overcome. The settlers found themselves that summer in the midst of hostile Indians.

Download Full-text

Supervision: Supervision and Clinical Practicum in Telepractice

Perspectives on Administration and Supervision ◽

10.1044/aas21.1.30 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 30-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Sena Crutchley

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Pilot Project ◽

First Year ◽

University Of North Carolina ◽

Speech Language Pathology ◽

Support Personnel ◽

Clinical Practicum ◽

Training Support ◽

Language Pathology ◽

The University

This article describes how a telepractice pilot project was used as a vehicle to train first-year graduate clinicians in speech-language pathology. To date, six graduate clinicians have been trained in the delivery of telepractice at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Components of telepractice training are described and the benefits and limitations of telepractice as part of clinical practicum are discussed. In addition, aspects of training support personnel involved in telepractice are outlined.

Download Full-text

Use of the AMA Guides in State Workers' Compensation Systems: 2009 Update

Guides Newsletter ◽

10.1001/amaguidesnewsletters.2009.marapr02 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 13-16

Author(s):

Christopher R. Brigham ◽

Jenny Walker

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

North Carolina ◽

South Carolina ◽

South Dakota ◽

Rhode Island ◽

Workers Compensation ◽

Fourth Edition ◽

Sixth Edition ◽

Specific Guideline ◽

Compensation Systems

Abstract The AMAGuides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides) is the most widely used basis for determining impairment and is used in state workers’ compensation systems, federal systems, automobile casualty, and personal injury, as well as by the majority of state workers’ compensation jurisdictions. Two tables summarize the edition of the AMA Guides used and provide information by state. The fifth edition (2000) is the most commonly used edition: California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Vermont, and Washington. Eleven states use the sixth edition (2007): Alaska, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Wyoming. Eight states still commonly make use of the fourth edition (1993): Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia. Two states use the Third Edition, Revised (1990): Colorado and Oregon. Connecticut does not stipulate which edition of the AMA Guides to use. Six states use their own state specific guidelines (Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, and Wisconsin), and six states do not specify a specific guideline (Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Virginia). Statutes may or may not specify which edition of the AMA Guides to use. Some states use their own guidelines for specific problems and use the Guides for other issues.

Download Full-text