scholarly journals Introductory Remarks from ISDS Annual Conference Scientific Program Chair

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
International Society ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Medical Rhetoric ◽  
The Public ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Illness And Disease

Colleagues,I am delighted to present to you the summary abstracts and presentations from the 2019 International Society of Disease Surveillance (ISDS) Conference which was held San Diego, CA from January 30th – February 2nd, 2019.  Over the past several years, the concept of investing in data science and data scientists has been touted as a transformational endeavor for governmental organizations, non-profits, as well as private sector and commercial markets. How “true” data science is harnessed to influence and improve public health surveillance and population health remains to be seen. Data science has great potential to provide a new lens to inform and improve public health surveillance and population health. However, this lens needs to focus upon more than just “Big Data” analytics and information technology. It must also focus on fostering organizational environments and multi-agency collaborations that invigorate curiosity and experimentation and development of cross-disciplinarian partnerships to address multifactorial and multidimensional health and disparity challenges. It also must hone in on producing evidence-based analytic results to improve measurable health outcomes. Analysis and summary results are not the end products for surveillance. The concept of data science needs to be leveraged across public health to better communicate the findings of disease surveillance through the “storytelling of illness and disease” to influence public health policy, and ultimately improve population health.This year, with these ideas in mind, and with the support of a dynamic, engaged, and multi-disciplinary Scientific Planning Committee (SPC) - ISDS has expanded its conference scope beyond traditional tracks which historically focused on surveillance, informatics, and analysis, to include tracks related to:One HealthNon – Human Health SurveillanceEcologyCommunications, Medical Rhetoric, Visualization, and ReportingChronic Disease / Mental HealthSubstance AbuseData QualityInjury SurveillanceSubstance Abuse – Opioid SurveillanceRecognizing that Public Health is a collaborative and multi-disciplinary team sport, we have expanded our outreach efforts to include new partners across academia, the private sector, state, local, and tribal partners, as well as federal agencies.  During the 2019 ISDS Conference, we had a significant increase in overall attendance (~375) and abstracts submissions compared to prior years; with 29 countries represented and 130 oral presentations and 95 poster presentations provided over the three-day conference.   We held a number of sessions on Opioid Use and Prescribing Surveillance as well as Medical Rhetoric, Communications, and Visualization that were standing-room only and beyond.Our keynote speakers on the intersection of Data Science and Public Health included: William J. Kassler, MD, MPH, IBM Watson Health – Deputy Chief Health OfficerWilma J. Wooten, MD, MPH, Public Health Officer for the County of San DiegoMichael Hogarth, MD, FACP, FACMI, Chief Clinical Research Information Officer for University of California San Diego HealthSome of the key take-aways from the presentations at the 2019 ISDS Conference were that data science and the act of data collections and analysis are NOT the end goals of public health surveillance; they are just the beginning.  Data do NOT speak for themselves; they require context, curation, interpretation, and ultimately need to effectively communicating findings through the story telling of illness and disease to officials, policy makers, and the public with the objective to inform and influence public health policy, motivate health behavior change, drive public health action, and ultimately improve population health.I encourage you to review the abstracts submitted here in the Online Journal of Public Health Informatics which were presented at the 2019 International Society for Disease Surveillance 2019 Conference and to engage multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary conversations (reach out directly to authors and presenters) around these important topics, expand your networks and opportunities in the public health community. Regards,Peter Hicks, MA, MPHScientific Program Chair International Society for Disease Surveillance (ISDS) 2019Centers for Disease Control and Prevention**Information included in this statement are those of the author and do not represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Paradigmatic

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 573-584
Author(s):  
Adam M. Geary
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Hiv Prevalence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Illness And Disease ◽  
Hiv Aids

Abstract When we bring together trans and HIV/AIDS, what are we trying to know, and what are we trying to do with that knowledge? In this essay the author argues that antiblack racism is the nexus for critically thinking the epidemiology of trans and HIV/AIDS, not simply black trans people's disparate suffering. Antiblackness has been paradigmatic and fundamental to the structural relations of domination and violence that have organized both group vulnerability to exposure to HIV and the ecologies of human susceptibility to illness and disease through which HIV has dispersed historically. Thus, within the public-health surveillance category “transgender,” racial disparities in HIV prevalence and incidence rates point toward the true paradigm for thinking HIV/AIDS as an epidemic and the enfoldment of trans people within it.

Pathology's Contributions to Disease Surveillance: Sending Our Data to Public Health Officials and Encouraging Our Clinical Colleagues to Do So

2009 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
pp. 926-932
Author(s):  
Raymond D. Aller
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Network ◽  
Over The Counter ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Pathology Data

Abstract Pathology and clinical laboratories produce many types of data and information that are of relevance in protecting the health of the public. Electronic linkages between laboratory/pathology information systems and public health surveillance databases help ensure that these data reach the appropriate responder rapidly, completely, and accurately. Many efforts are underway to facilitate the flow of data from laboratory/pathology data sources to public health systems. Likewise, pathologists can encourage the contribution of clinical data from other parts of the health care enterprise. Chief complaint data from the emergency department and usage of over-the-counter medications from the retail pharmacy are useful for real-time population health surveillance. Having directly advocated transmission of data from our laboratories and facilitated other departments' participation in the public health surveillance network, we can also serve the public's health in other ways. Public health jurisdictions have a great need for staff with the skill sets of an experienced laboratorian. So, plan to contribute: data and talent.

Electronic notifiable disease reporting system from primary care health centres in Qatar: a comparison of paper-based versus electronic reporting

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ahmed Syed ◽  
Hanan Al Mujalli ◽  
Catherine Kiely ◽  
Hamda Abdulla A/Qotba ◽  
Khalid Elawad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Reporting System ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Disease Notification ◽  
Electronic Reporting ◽  
Health Centres

Communicable disease outbreaks can spread rapidly, causing enormous losses to individual health, national economies and social well-being. Therefore, communicable disease surveillance is essential for protecting public health. In Qatar, electronic reporting from primary health centres was proposed as a means of improving disease notification, replacing a paper-based method of reporting (via internal mail, facsimile, email or telephone), which has disadvantages and requires active cooperation and engagement of staff. This study is a predescriptive and postdescriptive analysis, which compared disease notifications received from electronic and paper-based systems during 3-month evaluation periods (quarter 2 in 2016 and quarter 2 in 2018 for paper-based and electronic reporting, respectively) in terms of comprehensiveness, timeliness and completeness. For the 23 notifiable diseases included in this study, approximately twice as many notifications were received through the electronic reporting system as from the paper-based reporting system, demonstrating it is more comprehensive. An overall increase in notifications is likely to have a positive public health impact in Qatar. 100% of electronic notifications were received in a timely manner, compared with 28% for paper-based notifications. Findings of the study show that electronic reporting presents a revolutionary opportunity to advance public health surveillance. It is recommended that electronic reporting be rolled out more widely to improve the completeness, stability and representativeness of the national public health surveillance system in Qatar as well as other countries.

In the Name of Population Well-Being: The Case for Public Health Surveillance

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. Fairchild ◽  
Ronald Bayer
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Chronic Disease ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Activity ◽  
Individual Informed Consent

AbstractSurveillance is the radar of public health. Without tracking, often by name, the incidence and prevalence of both infectious and chronic disease, health officials would be unable to understand where and how to potentially intervene or what resources might be required to protect populations. Surveillance without individual informed consent has been challenged in the name of both bioethics and human rights. In this article we contend that a robust conception of public health not only justifies surveillance but, without disregarding the need to respect individuals, provides an affirmative duty to engage in surveillance. There may be social and political circumstances in which the names of those reported cannot be protected from unwarranted disclosure and misuse for ends that have little to do with protecting the public's health. But while the potential for misuse requires an ongoing, searching scrutiny of disease surveillance, remote or hypothetical threats should not serve to undermine this vital public health activity.

scholarly journals Surveillance of outbreaks of waterborne infectious disease: categorizing levels of evidence

1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. E. TILLETT ◽  
J. de LOUVOIS ◽  
P. G. WALL
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Reasonable Doubt ◽  
Quality Information ◽  
Recreational Water ◽  
Specific Detection ◽  
Subsequent Investigation

Public health surveillance requires the monitoring of waterborne disease, but sensitive and specific detection of relevant incidents is difficult.The Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre receives information from various sources about clusters of cases of illness in England and Wales. The reporter may suspect that water consumption or recreational water exposure is the route of infection, or subsequent investigation may raise the hypothesis that water is associated with illness.It is difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt that such a hypothesis is correct. Water samples from the time of exposure are seldom available, some organisms are difficult to detect and almost everyone has some exposure to water. Therefore, we have developed a method of categorizing the degree of evidence used to implicate water. The categories take into account the epidemiology, microbiology and water quality information. Thus outbreaks are classified as being associated with water either ‘strongly’, ‘probably’ or ‘possibly’.This system allows a broad database for monitoring possible effects of water and is not confined to the few outbreaks which have been intensively investigated or have positive environmental microbiology. Thus, for reported incidents, the sensitivity of classifying it as water associated should be high but this may be at the expense of specificity, especially with the ‘possible’ association.

Development and psychometric evaluation of the public health surveillance well-being scale

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1031-1043 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Bann ◽  
R. Kobau ◽  
M. A. Lewis ◽  
M. M. Zack ◽  
C. Luncheon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Psychometric Evaluation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
The Public

scholarly journals Preliminary Look into the ICD9/10 Transition Impact on Public Health Surveillance

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hicks ◽  
Julie A. Pavlin ◽  
Atar Baer ◽  
David J. Swenson ◽  
Rebecca Lampkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Syndromic Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Health Practices ◽  
The Public ◽  
Icd 10

The "Preliminary Look into the Icd9/10 Transition Impact on Public Health Surveillance" roundtable will provide a forum for the syndromic surveillance Community of Practice (CoP) to discuss the public health impacts from the ICD-10-CM conversion, and to support jurisdictional public health practices with this transition. The discussion will be aimed at identifying conversion challenges, solutions, and best practices.

scholarly journals Electronic Reporting of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response: Lessons Learned from Northeast, Nigeria, 2019.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luka Mangveep Ibrahim ◽  
Ifeanyi Okudo ◽  
Mary Stephen ◽  
Opeayo Ogundiran ◽  
Jerry Shitta Pantuvo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Surveillance ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Health Facilities ◽  
Supportive Supervision ◽  
Electronic Reporting ◽  
Surveillance And Response ◽  
Word Clouds

Abstract Background: Electronic reporting of integrated disease surveillance and response (eIDSR) was implemented in two states in North-East Nigeria as an innovative strategy to improve disease reporting. Its objectives were to improve the timeliness and completeness of IDSR reporting by health facilities, prompt identification of public health events, timely information sharing, and public health action. We evaluated the project to determine whether it met its set objectives.Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess and document the lessons learned from the project. We reviewed the performance of the Local Government Areas (LGAs) on rumors identification and reporting of IDSR data on the eIDSR and the traditional system using a checklist. Respondents were interviewed online on the relevance; efficiency; sustainability; project progress and effectiveness; effectiveness of management; and potential impact and scalability of the strategy using structured questionnaires. Quantitative data were analyzed and presented as proportions using an MS Excel spreadsheet. Qualitative data was cleaned, converted into an MS Excel database, and analyzed using Epi Info version 7.2 to obtain frequencies. Responses were also presented as direct quotes or word clouds.Results: The number of health facilities reporting IDSR increased from 103 to 228 (117%) before and after implementation of the eIDSR respectively. The completeness of IDSR reports in the last six months before the evaluation was ≥ 85%. Of the 201 rumors identified and verified, 161 (80%) were from the eIDSR pilot sites. The majority of the stakeholders interviewed believed that eIDSR met its predetermined objectives for public health surveillance. The benefits of eIDSR included timely reporting and response to alerts and disease outbreaks, improved completeness, and timeliness of reporting, and supportive supervision to the operational levels. The strategy helped the stakeholders to appreciate their roles in public health surveillance.Conclusion: The eIDSR increased the number of health facilities reporting IDSR, enabled early identification, reporting, and verification of alerts, improved completeness of reports, and supportive supervision on staff at the operational levels. It was well accepted by the stakeholder as a system that made reporting easy with the potential to improve the public health surveillance system in Nigeria.

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